An Assassin's Mistake
by Gaara717
Summary: Two of the shinobi world's best assassins come from complete opposite villages. Nothing has ever stopped them from completing their mission. But how will they fare when their next target is each other? NaruSaku.
1. Chapter 1

**An Assassin's Mistake**

PLEASE READ!

A/N: This story is written as a partner story between myself (MissUndescribablexx) and NewYear's Tragedy. The story alternates between Sakura and Naruto's point of view. To give you a feel of the different personalities of both characters, I will be writing Sakura's point of view and NewYear's Tragedy will be writing Naruto's. My personality is similar to Sakura's and NewYear's Tragedy can only write from a guy's point of view, so it works out perfectly. We have spent a lot of time researching to make sure we get our facts right. There may be a few little things here and there that we altered to fit our story, but other than that all of the information should be correct. If you find any mistakes (grammatical or technical), please tell us.

Sakura and Naruto are 23 years old.

Please enjoy.

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><p><strong>Sakura<strong>

**"_Mom! Mom! Come outside!" 10-year old Sakura ran up to her house and threw open the front door. "Come see what I learned today!" _**

**_Her mom turned around with a pained smile. Sakura was way too excited to notice it. "Okay sweetie, just one second."_**

**_Sakura turned and bolted back outside. When her mom came out, Sakura was facing a tree 15 feet away from her with a shuriken in her right hand. Sakura looked over her shoulder and smiled. "Mom are you ready?" _**

**_Her mom crossed her arms and nodded. _**

**_Sakura put her attention back on the tree and took a deep breath. She took a step forward, pulled her right hand across to her opposite shoulder and with a flick of her arm the shuriken was sent flying towards the tree. It hit smack dab in the center of the bark. _**

**_Sakura quickly turned around and started jumping up and down excitedly. "Mom! Mom! Did you see that? Wasn't that amazing?" Sakura's face couldn't be happier._**

**_Her mom clapped a few times. "That was splendid sweetheart." She was smiling, but it seemed forced. Sakura didn't see the happy approval in her mom's eyes that she thought she had earned. _**

**"_Mom, are you okay? You don't look like you're happy for me." Disappointment started to flow through Sakura. _**

**_Her mom sighed. "Oh Sakura.. I don't know how to tell you this." _**

**_Sakura was confused. "Tell me what Mom?" _**

**_Her mom took a couple steps backward and sat down on the porch steps and patted the spot next to her with her hand. "Come sit next to me." _**

**_Sakura cautiously made her way over to her mother and sat down. Her mom put her arm around her and pulled her close._**

**"_Sakura… You won't be attending you're Team 7 practices anymore." _**

**_Sakura wasn't sure if she had heard her mother right. "What are you talking about?"_**

**"_Sakura, we have to move. And by move, I mean move out of this village and even out of the Fire Country."_**

**_Sakura's mind started to shut down. "Mom… you're just kidding right?" She turned to look at her mother and found the hard truth in her eyes. "B-but why? I was just put on Team 7!" Tears started to well up in Sakura's eyes. "You can't do this!" Sakura abruptly stood up. "I refuse to go with you! I am not leaving my home!" By the end of her statement Sakura's tears had become a waterfall. "I'M NOT GOING!"_**

**_She turned and ran in the opposite direction of her house as fast as her legs could carry her._**

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><p><span>13 Years later.<span>

Sakura sat on the grass by a fire cleaning the blood off of her weapons. Or more specifically, her sword. She always used it on her assassination missions. It made for an easy finish.

She was wearing her usual attire. An elbow length tight, red shirt covered by her gray jounin jacket flat and finished off with her black spandex shorts that stopped at her knees. She never failed to wrap her forearms with white bandages. It became a habit of hers when she first became a genin.

Sakura had been made Jounin 7 years ago. At 16 years old, she was the youngest Jounin assassin the Hidden Mist Village has ever had. At 23, her power and ability rivals most other Jounin and ANBU members, not to mention she is the top medic nin in her village. She's heard rumors here and there about her being the next Mizukage. She didn't know about that one but respect was something she didn't have to worry about.

_Another easy target,_ Sakura thought. _It seems they just keep getting weaker and weaker._

After the Mizukage recognized Sakura's ability, she's always been the first one called when an assassination mission came up. To say that Sakura is busy is an understatement. She almost never has time for herself anymore. For the past 5 years the most time that Sakura has spent in her village during one period is 2 days.

The first year of assassinations was the hardest. Sakura would curl up in her tent each night after she killed her target and cry herself to sleep. She's not sure when it happened, but one night the crying stopped. Since that night, Sakura has been able to complete every mission without blinking. She's not even sure when the last time she truly laughed was.

Sakura has never had a true friend. She was 10 years old when she moved to the Mist Village. By then, best friends were already chosen. Not to mention that she was born in a rival country. Nobody wanted to associate themselves with a family from the famous Konoha. Her family was treated like outcasts for the first year.

The closest to a friend Sakura has ever had was a boy from her old team when she lived in Konoha. She couldn't for the life of her remember his name or what he looked like. She did remember, however, that he was intolerably annoying.

The sun was beginning to sink from it's high position in the sky. It would be sunset soon. She quickly gathered and packed up all of her stuff. Sakura preferred to travel during sunset. It kept her mind focused on all of the abstract colors in the sky. She wasn't that far from her village. It would only take her 3 hours to reach it with a slow run.

Sakura quickly put out the fire, secured her backpack to her back and began heading east toward Mist.

When she was 50 feet away from the village gates she slowed her pace down to a walk. As she passed the guard station, one the two guards, Tsuchi, said, "Hey, Sakura. You're back earlier than expected."

Sakura looked over and smirked, "Aren't I always?"

Tsuchi grinned, "Touché. Would you like me to inform the Mizukage?"

Sakura shook her head. "I would actually like a little bit of sleep before she decides to give me another mission."

Tsuchi nodded and smiled sincerely. "Understood. Goodnight Sakura."

"Goodnight Tsuchi, Akasun." Sakura replied as she set off to her apartment.

Sakura walked at a slow pace towards her apartment. She still lived with her parents. She wasn't home enough to have her own apartment. Besides, she enjoyed coming home to her loving parents, her cozy bed, and her mom's fantastic cooking. It was definitely something to look forward to.

Before she reached the front door, it was swung open to reveal her parents with huge smiles on their faces. "Welcome home sweetie!" They both exclaimed. Her mom practically tackled her while her dad came around and put his arms around Sakura and his wife.

_This is the best part of coming home, _Sakura smiled to herself. Her parents had never failed in giving her a small "Welcome Home" celebration. Her parents were the reason that she could handle being an assassin. Even after Sakura's emotions had been locked away, they always knew how to release them, even if it was just for a day or two.

Her mom grabbed her hand and started pulling her inside. "C'mon Sakura. Dinner is almost ready." Now that she mentioned it, Sakura did smell something wonderful coming from the kitchen.

"How was your mission Sakura?" Her dad casually asked.

"Ya know, Dad. They just keep getting easier to kill. They're not even a challenge anymore." Sakura shrugged.

"Sweetie, I think you're just getting that much stronger." Sakura looked up at her dad as he winked. "Sakura, you know you're the strongest ninja of your age and many more."

"Yes, Dad. You know I don't like to talk about it."

"You don't have to be modest all of the time, Sakura. You can always brag to your very proud parents." Her dad smiled.

"And proud we are. Dinner is ready!" Sakura's mom poked her head out of the doorway.

As her family sat down, Sakura had to stop herself from immediately stuffing food down her throat. She was starving. When she's on missions, she only eats enough to keep herself strong enough to fight.

Being impatient, Sakura reached out to take her parent's hands and quickly said Grace.

"I can see our daughter is hungry, Ayumi."

"Good, maybe that means we won't have any leftovers," Sakura's mom giggled.

"Ahh but leftovers are always good for breakfast." Sakura pointed out.

Sakura's mom looked at her and smiled gently. "I love having you back."

"You're not the only one." Her dad added as he patted Sakura on the shoulder. "So, what was your latest target like? Who was he a threat to anyway?"

Ayumi coughed. "Hiroshi."

Sakura looked down at her plate. "Dad… I'd rather not talk about it."

"Oh. Right.. Sorry sweetheart." Her dad coughed awkwardly. "Shiro has gotten a lot stronger. He passed the chunin exam last week. I'm sure he'd be ecstatic to tell you about it."

Sakura's head snapped up at the mention of Shiro. "Really? Did y'all watch it?" she asked curiously.

Her mom spoke up. "Oh yes! He had no problem defeating his opponent in the final match."

Sakura smiled. _Shiro is growing up._

Shiro was more or less Sakura's adopted brother. He's never really had any friends due to a rumor that his father killed one of the village's elders when he was 5 years old. The accusation was never proven true, but nobody went to the trouble to prove it wrong, either. His father was forced out of the village and Shiro has never seen him since. Sakura had found him one day swinging alone. She had basically adopted him. His mother had gone into a depression and began isolating herself. For a few months, Sakura's parents had even let him stay in their house while his mother recovered. That was 10 years ago. Ever since then they've had an unbreakable bond.

"Oh, I almost forgot to mention. Lady Mei is currently the sensei of a genin team." Her mother added.

Sakura's eyes widened. "No way! I thought she said that she would never be a sensei of a genin team. She said it would defy her age." She playfully rolled her eyes.

Her father shrugged. "I have no idea where the change of mind came from."

Sakura's face brightened. "I can't wait to ask her about it."

"Sakura, honey, don't you want to keep your job as an assassin?"

Sakura giggled. "I was just kidding, Mom. I'm smarter than that." She sighed and stood up. "I think I'm gonna go ahead and go to bed. I feel like I'm going to just fall over at any moment."

Her mom walked over and took Sakura's dinner plate from her hands. "Well you go ahead. Don't worry about the dishes tonight sweetie. You deserve your rest." Ayumi leaned over and kissed her daughter's cheek. "Goodnight Sakura."

Her dad stood up and patted her back. "We won't wake you in the morning."

Sakura smiled at her father. "Thanks, Dad. But don't be surprised if I'm already gone by the time y'all wake up. I have a feeling the Mizukage already knows I'm back."

Her father chuckled. "I wouldn't be at all surprised."

"Goodnight Mom, Dad. I love you!" Sakura shouted as she climbed the stairs to her room.

"We love you too!" Her mom shouted back.

Hiroshi walked over and put an arm around his wife. "I don't think that there's a better daughter out there."

"We _are_ the best parents ever, of course." Ayumi and her husband made eye contact and burst into laughter.

The second Sakura walked through her bedroom door she began peeling off her clothes. By the time she made it to her bathroom, she was completely naked. She turned on the shower and looked at her reflection as she waited for the shower to heat up.

She really needed some time off from these missions. They have really taken a toll on her complexion. _These dark circles will never go away._

Sakura turned away from the mirror and stepped into the shower. She let the hot water run over every inch of her body. She couldn't remember the last time a shower felt this good. It began to slowly relax her muscles. What she needed was a nice trip to the hot springs and a long massage afterward.

She spent another 2 minutes in the shower before getting out and drying herself off. When she walked back into her room she threw on a t-shirt, a pair of panties and climbed into bed. The second her head hit the pillow, Sakura was gone.

When Sakura opened her eyes the next morning she looked over at her clock. 12:00 p.m.! She threw off the covers and jumped out of bed. Sakura froze. There was another presence in her room. She whipped around and found Chojuro staring at her with wide eyes.

Sakura glared and pointed at him. "YOU! How long have you been here?"

Chojuro began stuttering. "I- Uh- S-since s-seven o'c-clock…"

Sakura fumed. "Since SEVEN? What have you been doing? Just standing there like an idiot?" She began running around her room finding a decent outfit to wear. When she found something appropriate, she ran into her bathroom and slammed her door. Ten seconds later she stormed out of the bathroom and stomped up to Chojuro and grabbed the neck of his shirt. "Why are you here?"

Chojuro coughed and tried to steady his voice. "L-lady Mei has summoned you."

Sakura narrowed her eyes. "If I get in trouble for being late, your hope of having a family will be extinguished. Ya hear me?" She flicked her wrist and Chojuro went flying into her wall.

Truth be told, Chojuro was terrified of her. He hadn't wanted to wake her up because he didn't want to end up in this situation. Ironic.

Sakura was out of her window and running toward the Mizukage tower in 2 seconds. _Poor Chojuro,_ she thought, _I really should treat him better._ She shrugged it off and pushed her legs faster. When she reached the doors, she kept her pace and barged through. She kept running through the building until she reached the Mizukage's office door. Sakura took a deep breath and knocked three times.

"Come in, Sakura." Sakura opened the door and walked a couple steps until she was standing a few feet away from the Mizukage's desk. She made a small bow in show of respect.

"If you don't mind me asking, how did you know it was me, my lady?"

Mei smiled. "Oh Sakura, I've known your chakra signature for quite awhile now. I just decided to test my knowledge. And it seems I was right." The Mizukage cleared her throat. "But we have no time to waste with small talk. You are already behind. Why are you late? And I trust you completely your last mission?"

"I am most sorry. Chojuro decided to stand in my room for 5 hours and watch me sleep. And yes, my lady. Mission successful." Sakura rolled her eyes.

Mei nodded. "He's scared of you, ya know. He was probably fighting himself on whether or not he should wake you. Anyways, stop distracting me! I know you're probably exhausted from all of the back to back missions but I have just received one that I trust only you to complete."

"I understand."

"Your new target is a ninja from the Hidden Leaf Village. You will meet him in the Hidden Frost Village to partner with him in assassinating a different target. He has the information on this target. After the both of you succeed in eliminating him or her, you are to assassinate the Leaf ninja. And you'll need a code name. I trust you to choose one that's appropriate."

Sakura nodded. "Why is this target a threat?"

"He is the Leaf's jinchuriki and rumored to be the next Hokage. He is one of the strongest shinobi in this world. Plus, the Mist and Leaf aren't getting along too well right now and it's best to keep the power equal."

"When do I leave?"

"You should've left 4 hours ago-"

"Thank you, Lady Mei." Sakura bowed and was out the door before Mei could blink.

She smiled. "I think she's my favorite shinobi."

Sakura reached her home in record time. She searched around her room for her weapons pouch and sword. Once she found it, she attached the pouch to her waist and tachi to her back and began searching for her essentials. She packed a few pairs of panties, an extra bra, a t-shirt to sleep in and her few necessary toiletries. She'll have to wash her current outfit every night. Once she was sure she had everything she needed, she exited through her window and jumped down to the street. She turned around and took a long look at her home. Sakura had a funny feeling that she wouldn't be seeing it for a while.

"Bye Mom. Bye Dad." Sakura grinned. Without a second glance, she began walking towards the gates.

"Leaving already, Sakura?" Akasun asked.

Sakura shrugged. "Are you really surprised?"

Akasun and Tsuchi both chuckled. "No, not at all," Akasun replied.

Sakura continued walking through the gates. Without turning around, she waved. "I'll see y'all in a few days! Keep the village safe for me!"

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><p><strong>Naruto<strong>

2 days later.

Swinging the kunai in his hand, he flipped it back and forth staring out into the horizon. The sun's light was just beginning to peak out of the mountains and illuminate the whole valley. The woods here were never silent. There was always noise, whether it was birds or the sound of the wind pushing the trees around. He could faintly hear the rushing of a river nearby. With his left hand he ran his fingers through his blonde hair, nervously. It would be a heavenly place if it weren't stuck in the middle of hell.

Shaking his head side to side, Naruto took a deep breath. He turned back towards the forest where a man awaited him. He gazed at the outline of a body lying awkwardly on the ground. The man was bound by his hands and feet. Normal rope would have held him but Naruto decided to use chakra binds. The man was currently unconscious. His slow and deliberate breathing showed it. Any minute now, he thought hastily. He continued rotating the weapon around his finger, watching the metal swing with great concentration. Naruto shifted his weight into his left foot. Then the right. And back to left again. He coughed, getting rather impatient. However, the faster rising and falling of the man's chest told Naruto he was about to awaken.

Twirling the weapon through his fingers once more, Naruto leaned against a nearby tree and waited. The man on the ground groaned and rolled over onto his back. While the man struggled to regain his surroundings, Naruto took this time to marvel his handiwork. His flesh was flawless, no bruises. In fact, it was quite easy to capture him. The man did, however, have a long cut across his cheek. It had happened when Naruto thought the man could have easily dodged it, but was proven wrong. This man was a rogue jounin of the Sound, for Christ's sake!

The man opened his eyes slowly. They widened a fraction of an inch. At first, he looked around calmly. Then he tried to jump to his feet, only to fail and land on his knees. As if hearing the metal of Naruto's twirling kunai scrape past his fingers, the man turned ever so slowly to face him. His eyes widened once they came in contact with Naruto's bright blue ones.

"Y-you." He stammered, shrinking back at the sight of the blonde jounin.

Naruto merely raised an eyebrow at the man. Truth be told he didn't enjoy these missions, but then again, this is what an assassin does. As a kid he was always so hyper active. He still is. But, with age comes maturity. As soon as he takes the scroll with the name of the target, he is no longer the Naruto Uzumaki everyone knows.

He stopped twirling the kunai. The handle of the metal twisted so it was back into his palm as he wrapped his fingers around it. His eyes hardening, dramatically.

The man sensing his death shrank back even further from Naruto. He gave the man a sly smile. Crouching slightly, he brought the weapon up to arm level.

Unknown to the man on the ground, the real Naruto was already behind him. He used his legendary technique, a shadow clone. It surprised him that the man did not realize the fake. Must be of his lack of continuous training, his mind offered. Shrugging his shoulders back, Naruto pulled the blade up. The bound man's eyes stayed glued to the fake Naruto in front of him. Naruto approached from behind and quickly ran the blade of his kunai across his prisoner's throat. Never knowing of the danger, the man slumped forward, dead. It was better that way. He didn't believe in cold murder. No one deserved that kind of treatment.

Naruto glanced at the clone that exploded into a mass of smoke. Wiping his brow he dropped the bloodied metal beside the man's lifeless body and untied his hands and feet. Appeared suicide, no questions asked.

He stared at the body a little while longer. Just another name. Just another body to eliminate. Who knows what this man's life had in store for him?

Naruto tried not to linger on those thoughts. It was for his village that he swore a duty to protect. And he would, even at the cost of his sanity.

He felt his old smile returned to his lips as he turned to walk away from the scene. It was a good forty mile run back to the Leaf Village. Maybe sooner, if he sprinted. He pushed his legs upward and landed softly on a branch that was hanging over his head. He was in no rush, so he decided a slow run would suffice. Jumping from branch to branch, he allowed his thoughts to wander.

Two years ago, he received his army green jounin vest and the responsibilities that came with it. The position was just another building block towards becoming Hokage, and he was glad to accept it. Heck, maybe one day he'll have his own team of genin. A light laugh escaped his mouth at the thought of it. He could hardly remember his teammates. The girl, who's name he couldn't remember for the life of him, moved or something so he never got close to her. Sasuke left to join Orochimaru in search of power to destroy his older brother. In this life, Naruto was always alone, but his friends and fellow teammates made it worth it.

Running out of thick trees to use to propel him forward, he jumped on to the ground and continued his jogging back home.

He hoped that maybe, just maybe, he could keep others from the pain he has suffered. Being branded a monster at birth wasn't a nice ordeal. But then again, some sacrifices for other's happiness was kinda worth it.

An uneasy feeling crept over him. _I'm not alone._

Out of his peripheral vision he noticed a kunai speeding towards him. He didn't think, just acted. Muttering a few words and hand signs, he jumped into the air just as a clone took his previous position. Landing quietly on a tree branch above, he watched the clone block the weapon with a kunai of his own, while the real Naruto searched for the owner of the weapon. His defenses were up. Adrenaline pounding through his veins, his heartbeat could be heard from his ears. The kunai had come pretty close to his head. But he relaxed and rolled his eyes when he saw a teenager approach the clone.

"Almost got you there, huh, Naruto?" Konohamaru exclaimed.

He watched his clone scoff and reply, "Hardly. There's not a scratch on me!" His clone smiled looking all over his body.

"Well, you just wait! You won't be so lucky next time!" He yelled pointing a finger at the clone, then hurrying off into a different direction out of sight.

Sighing, he smacked his head. God, Naruto, that was close. Pay more attention. Naruto jumped down from the tree and approached his clone who had his arms behind his head looking completely relaxed.

"His aiming skills have gotten better." The clone remarked.

"Yea, yea." Naruto said as the clone dispersed into the air.

Naruto walked the rest of the way. The village gates were not far ahead. The giant doors were propped open as he passed by the guardhouse.

"Back already, Naruto?" The guard asked, looking completely bored out of his mind.

"Yea. Nothing I can't handle." He told the guard, smiling.

"By the way.." The guard called out when Naruto keep walking inward into the village. "The Hokage wanted to speak with you once you returned. It seemed urgent."

"That old hag?" He asked with complete innocence.

"Jesus, Naruto. You're the only one who can get away with calling her names." He remarked.

"Guess that means I have to hurry? Huh?" Naruto yelled back, as he past the guard station and continued inwards to village.

"I would recommend it." He said as his voice faded out as Naruto began to run towards the tower.

But instead of a left to the Hokage tower, he took a right. He approached a wide building with the title, 'Konoha Intelligence Headquarters.' He pushed opened the door and entered a plain reception room. Walking to the edge of the counter, he rang the bell three times. When he saw someone start to approach the desk, he continued ringing the bell.

"God, would you cut that out, you idiot." Ino said coming to meet him.

"I could. But I'm not." Naruto said smiling, ringing the bell again.

"Can I help you? Or are you here just to bother all of us again?" She rolled her eyes.

"Well, I'm actually here to see Shikamaru. If you could tell him to get his lazy ass in here.." He smiled. "..that would be great."

He half expected her to turn around and go get him. But the other half was proven right when she screamed his name at the top of her lungs.

Nothing. Naruto's eyebrow rose. Ino shook her head and then bellowed his name once more.

A stumbling figure emerged, "What..?"

"Naruto is here to see you." She added at a more inside voice, before disappearing further into the building.

"Troublesome woman." Shikamaru muttered under his breath. "Yes, Naruto?" He asked, scratching the back of his head.

"Taking a nap already? It's only eight in the morning." Naruto shook his head disapprovingly.

"Actually it's nine." Shikamaru corrected.

Naruto grin disappeared as he got more serious, "The favor you asked for me.." He started and Shikamaru leaned in the hear better, "I checked the man. No reports, no scrolls. He was clean. Looks like more faulty Intel, Shikamaru."

Shikamaru sighed, tiredly. "Great." He muttered sarcastically. "I'll have to start back from square one."

Naruto nodded and rolled his eyes, remembering Tsunade wanted to see him.

"Look, I have to go. Is there anything else you need me to do?" Naruto asked as he began to walk backwards away from the counter.

Shikamaru shook his head, "No, but thanks."

"No problem." Naruto called out as he exited the door.

But once again, he avoided his real destination as he made his way to his home. He just needed to pick up a few things. After all, he was gone for three days. And God knows what that old hag is going to have him do.

He made it to his house in pretty remarkable time. Unlocking the door, he made his way in. He needed to restock his arsenal. Naruto lost two good kunai from his last mission. Pulling open a drawer by his front door, he pulled out two metal kunai and put them in his pouch. Naruto clipped the flap back in place and glanced over at his glass cabinet where various priceless weapons were on display. Noticing his katana, he pulled open the glass and wrapped his fingers around it. He pulled it up to eye level. The metal made a sharp scrape sound as he unsheathed it.

"I guess I'll carry you." He said to himself, as he slid the metal back in.

He had gotten this weird feeling he would need it.

He strapped it to his back and walked back over to the front door. Looking around once more for anything else, he stopped. Weather is supposed to drop tonight. He'll need a jacket. Naruto didn't have to look far. A black cloak with orange flames rising from the bottom laid over a chair in the corner. Slowly he picked up the material. It was his father's; one of the few items that he left him.

Naruto slipped into the material and glanced at the mirror. His eyes widened as he turned to stare at the reflection that looked back at him. It had been months since he last took a glance at his appearance. He wore a black under shirt with long sleeves and black pants that stopped at his ankles. White tape was strapped around one of his thighs, holding a kunai. Over the black was his green jounin vest. His cloak only added to the appearance of a man he would never forget. He looked just like his father. The only difference was his shorter hair. A dull pain picked at the edges of his defenses. He tore his eyes from the reflection. And without a second thought he exited his house.

He changed his course for the Hokage tower and walked at faster than normal speed. He heard random people call out his name but for once, he didn't return the greeting. Granny Tsunade's request to see him made him curious. Why was it so sudden? Entering the tower he quickly scaled the stairs and stopped at her office where a chunin stood guard.

"Naruto Uzumaki?" He asked.

"The one and only."

"She has been expecting you." He nodded and opened the door.

Naruto walked in and casually stood standing up facing the Hokage's desk, his arms crossed.

"Granny." He said, his eyes looking down at the ground.

She turned around in her chair and faced him, her fingers lacing together as her chin rested on them.

Her eyes widened a fraction of an inch looking at him. "You're late, again." She remarked.

He smiled, his lips pulling back into a wide grin, "What did you expect?"

"Maybe you would mature a little? And show up when your Hokage asks you to?" She reasoned, raising her eyebrows.

"I am mature!" He defended.

"How was your mission?" She asked, leaning back in her chair.

"Surprisingly easy. More so than normal." He stated. "Suska Hagane eliminated."

"Good." She replied and leaned forward, putting her elbows on the desk.

It was silent for a few more seconds before she continued to speak

"I have another mission for you." She stated, simply.

"Already?" He couldn't bite back the response.

He knew in the back of his mind it would be another mission. But he had really hoped the feeling was wrong.

"Yes. S-ranked mission." She told him.

"Assassination?"

She nodded. But didn't move for a file containing the target's information like usual. Instead, she just stared at him.

"All I have for you is a name." Tsunade said.

"Great.." He muttered sarcastically.

"You may remember her-" She started but Naruto cut her off.

"Her?" He asked.

He wasn't sexist. It just surprised him a female could be S-ranked. There were not many girls that strong anymore.

But Tsunade continued on, "She used to be part of your genin team. But she and her family left the village long ago." She stood up approaching him.

"What is the reason for the assassination?" He asked, curiosity getting the best of him.

Tsunade looked hesitant but complied, "As an ex-ninja of the Hidden Leaf, she poses a threat. We don't know how much she knows."

Naruto spoke before she could finish, "Why now? It's been close to ten years since I was on my genin team."

She glared at him, "If you would let me finish, you would know."

"Sorry." He remarked, smiling, not sorry at all.

"I've heard reports that she has gotten stronger. Close to rivaling me in medical ninjustu." She said, not saying anything further.

She was hiding something. But he didn't question what it was.

"A ninja from the Hidden Mist will be assisting you."

"Hidden Mist? Is this a move for an alliance?" Naruto asked, surprise across his features.

"I don't know, but be on your guard. They offered it. I couldn't say no, it would be like a war distrusting them or something." She smiled slightly.

He rolled his eyes at the thought of working with a Hidden Mist Ninja.

"You will have to make up a code name. I don't trust them enough for them to know who you really are." She stated.

"Code name?" He confirmed, thinking of all the different possibilities of names.

"Yes, Naruto, I'm sure you will have a lot of fun with that but make sure it sounds real." She almost begged and Naruto laughed.

"Destination?"

"You will meet up with the Mist nin in Frost Country. From there you will explain the mission." She said.

"Attire?"

"What you're wearing, it will be easier for the Mist ninja to know." She pointed to his army green vest, then sighed, "I do have a certain piece of information that may or may not be helpful. She did have a nervous tick. She would chew on the inside of her mouth when she got jumpy or scared. She made it pretty obvious too."

Naruto nodded.

"I'm sorry, you don't have time to change. She is a high-class threat, and this information is already days late. Not to mention you took your sweet time getting here. You leave now." She commanded with a flick of her wrist.

"Wait. The name?" He asked.

"Oh, yes, of course." She said muttering something about 'old age'. "Her name is Sakura Haruno. Now go."

"Yes, ma'am!" He confirmed and formed hand signs and disappeared out of the room.

Tsunade turned and faced the window, her hands clasped behind her back.

_Be careful, Naruto, this girl is stronger than you realize._

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><p><strong>So... What did you think? You should tell us with a nice review. :) <strong>

**Also, please let us know if there are any factual mistakes! Besides, of course, Sakura living in Mist. That's very necessary to this story. **

**Chapter 2 should be up soon!**

**By the way, y'all should totally go check out NewYear's Tragedy 's profile. She has some pretty awesome stories. **

**Thank you! **


	2. Chapter 2

**I would like to reiterate that this is a partner story. I am writing this along with NewYear's Tragedy. I write Sakura's point of view while NewYear's Tragedy writes Naruto's. **

**& Yes, this will sorta be like Mr. & Mrs. Smith but there are some major differences in the plots. So please don't assume that this will be the same. **

**We will try to update weekly! The most time that will ever be between updates will probably be 2 weeks.**

**Please enjoy the second chapter. :)**

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><p><strong>Naruto<strong>

The sun was already sliding back behind the mountain. He grunted, increasing his pace towards the Fire Country border. His plan was to stop at the border and set up camp. Being on the Fire border meant less attacks in the middle of the night. Not that he couldn't handle it or anything, but he was really tired from transitioning from mission to mission and didn't feel like dealing with a surprise attack. He knew his guard could drop for the slightest second and even that was enough for someone to ambush him.

From the border he would continue into Hot Springs Country before finally ending in Frost Country where he would meet his counterpart. Which he was not looking forward to at all. All Mist Nin seemed to be overly cocky.

The trees had started to get thinner with each step he took. With the light almost gone it was getting harder to see. He moaned at the thought that the Hokage was right, that being late to receive the mission would put him back hours. He increased his pace even more to compensate for his actions.

"Almost there." He told himself out loud. It was silly to talk to himself. But it was the only thing that seemed to keep him sane on these solo missions.

When the border was within eye distance he slowed down before finally stopping on a tree branch. Naruto dropped down to his feet and scanned the area. His eyes wandered around the trees around him. It was empty, as far as he could tell. The place looked as though no one had passed here before. His lips pulled back into a weak smile, he glad it was deserted. Deciding this was the best place to sleep, he removed five kunai from his back pouch. He placed them on the ground in a row and tied a piece of paper around the hilt of each one. Once finished he made a few quick hand signs. An inky, black seal formed on the tied piece of paper. Leaning over, Naruto rolled all the weapons into one of his hands. Locating five different trees that surrounded him, he threw the metal towards the trunks. After they all hit their mark, Naruto lowered his arm back to his side.

Finally deciding to live up to the legacy of his last name, he learned of a different type of paper bomb. The paper bomb would go off if any one person with a high chakra level passed by. Therefore, he would be alerted of someone's presence. But the bombs wouldn't activate if animals passed through because it wouldn't pick up the small force of chakra. Of course this technique had some loopholes but it was the best he had. He could always stay awake all night. But he didn't trust himself to not fall asleep.

Sighing, realizing he wouldn't have a good meal due to his hope of staying unnoticed and a fire would attract attention, he popped some ration pills and took his cloak off. Slowly he reached around to untie his forehead protector and set it on the ground next to him as he sat down against a tree. The bark cut into his back and was not in the least bit comfortable. He really hoped this would be the last of the series of missions. Naruto rested the cloak in his lap and thought of the task he would have to complete tomorrow.

Since he had a lot of ground to cover in a short amount of time, he decided he would wake up earlier. He then would have to meet the Mist Nin and search for Sakura. The only problem was he didn't have a clue where to start. All he had was a name and something to look out for. 'Why couldn't this be easier?' His brain whined.

_There's that other thing_, he thought. He would no longer be Uzumaki Naruto. Tomorrow he would be just Minato. He smiled slightly at the choice of his code name. It would be weird being called by his father's name, but he couldn't think of a better one. The name would leave no room for questions. His father was dead and no one knew the Fourth Hokage had a son.

He leaned back into the sharp bark of the tree as his eyes slowly drooped closed. With his mind full of questions and possibilities, he drifted off to sleep.

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><p>A light was shinning straight into his eyelids so he squeezed them shut. But the action neither took the light away nor made it any more bearable. Why did he leave the curtains open? Shaking his head side to side, Naruto opened his eyes only to be blinded by a brilliant light. He groaned and rolled over onto his side, wondering why it was so bright.<p>

His eyes flew open as he searched for the source of light. It was sunlight. He glanced around. Trees? Where the heck am I? His memory began to flood back into his brain like a broken dam. His mind raced as he remembered where he was.

"Shit!" He cursed, noticing the sun was almost high in the sky.

"You got to be kidding me! I slept in?" He roared, tying his forehead protector around his head.

He shoved his arms back into his cloak and brought his two fingers up to his mouth.

"Release!" He shouted as the spell bound bombs popped, turning back into normal kunai.

Running around, he tore the metal out from the trees. Shoving them back into his pouch, he took off across the border. He pushed his body even faster than the night before. He mentally kicked himself for losing a few good hours. Now he'll be lucky if he makes it by sun down.

The extra sleep did indeed help his awareness, however. Naruto became even more cautious of his surroundings once the border was far behind him. He was no longer safe inside this country. Rogues were a threat and other countries didn't take too kindly to foreigners. He just hoped he'd make it across the border without running into problems.

Naruto watched the road under him from the trees. It was a little merchant road, highly used by civilian travelers. He would see a civilian walking the road every now and then.

He diverted his course from the road. The road led to the capital and Naruto was going in the almost opposite direction. It was sad to say he left the road with disappointment.

Traveling was so boring to him. His mind would wander all over the place and seeing trees over and over again got annoying. Once, he had gotten so bored he counted every tree he saw, but stopped after two thousand before he completely lost his sanity.

The temperature was starting to drop and he thanked his subconscious for telling him to take his cloak. A chill ran up his back, but it's wasn't from the cold. He tried to ignore it. He almost always felt it when he left the country. It just bothered him. He couldn't exactly place the uneasy feeling.

Pushing off of a tree branch, he again hoped this would be the last mission for a while. Naruto wanted a break from all of the killing. But he knew it wasn't just the killing. It was doing it alone, holding his burden in silence. For that reason he was glad a Mist ninja was coming with him. But he hated the idea of someone else experiencing what happened to him on an almost daily basis.

He was just beginning to think about his counterpart he would meet when he realized he was being followed. His uneasy feeling was finally confirmed. Naruto kept his current speed. He glanced to the side trying to get a read on the chakra figures following at a distance behind him. His eyes widened a fraction of an inch, four signatures? Four were following him..? Concentrating harder, he noticed three of which were considerably lower than the fourth. _A genin team?_ His mind offered. Which ever, he just knew he couldn't avoid confrontation.

Making hand signs he muttered, "Kage Bushin No Jutsu." He jumped to the side as his shadow clone continued to jump from tree to tree. He focused his chakra on the clone and masked his own as he waited for the four followers.

Just as predicted he saw a young kid jump by first, then an older man, followed by two other kids. His instinctive skills kicking in, he checked their appearances. Naruto stared at their forehead protectors.

"Rock ninja?" He muttered as he watched them go. Why would they be so far away from their village, his mind questioned.

In order to figure out what to do next he would have to know what he was up against. To judge the group's strength, he looked at the appearance of each one. The leading boy had brown hair and was obviously the troublemaker of the team. His stance was powerful and straightforward. The genin made no effort to hide his footfalls. The kid reminded Naruto of his self back in his younger years.

Behind was the girl. She had a determined look upon her face as she followed the boy. Between her fingers were a three shuriken. Naruto ruled her out as a main concern in the group. Having her weapon already drawn meant that she was insecure of her surroundings and lacked confidence, which was fatal in any fight.

Next to her was the final genin. He wore glasses with red hair. His facial features were grim as he constantly glanced around at his surroundings. He gave Naruto the impression he was the brains of the team, but seemed to be over cautious. Naruto checked the whole genin team off as harmless. His eyes moved over to stop at the adult of the team.

The jounin of the group had his eyebrows pulled tight together in concentration. The way his eyebrows twitched, Naruto imaged the man thinking of a plan of action against the Leaf Nin they were tailing. He had sideburns and appeared to be young for a jounin. He must have been assigned his team just recently. What really stuck out was a sword strapped to his back. It was huge. He marked him as a potential threat if it came to a fight.

He rolled his eyes and tailed them, trying to pick up on their conversation. Naruto kept his chakra signature low and stayed at a distance, keeping just within hearing distance.

"Sensei! Let's get him already! He hasn't even noticed us." The lead ninja yelled excitedly.

"Shut up, you idiot. He'll hear us," The female of the genin team remarked.

"Quiet. Both of you." The Sensei barked, silencing the two from bickering further.

The boy, who hadn't said a word, spoke up, "Why do you think a Leaf shinobi is so far from his village?"

The Sensei shook his head, "I have no idea."

Naruto, sensing the group meant no real harm, had his clone slow down. If it did come to a fight, these genin seemed new to the whole idea of a team and it would be easy to fight them off. However, he would do everything in his power to keep it from getting to that.

His clone came to a stop and drew his kunai as if surprised by the group following. The team of Rock ninja slid to a stop and drew their weapons as well. It was quiet as the sides stared at one another.

"Why are you tailing me?" His clone called out.

"What is your purpose in the Land of Hot Springs?" The older man yelled.

"I could ask you the same." His clone pointed out.

"We are returning from a mission. Your course is towards Lightning Country. I think we have a right to know." He argued.

Naruto's double just stared at the group with narrowed eyes. He couldn't give away any part of his mission. Especially to Rock Nin. What was left of his hope of just walking away started to take a dive for the worst. The Leaf and Rock don't see eye to eye and he was too suspicious looking.

"You will tell us!" The loudmouth boy from earlier yelled charging at his clone.

With angry shouts from his team, the boy continued to charge toward Naruto's clone, his kunai raised.

He wouldn't be allowed any further, Naruto realized. This team wouldn't let him. But he didn't want any bloodshed over a misunderstanding. He would have to cause a diversion, with minimal damage to the genin.

Naruto's clone threw his kunai at the boy to stop his advance, but the weapon was blocked when the girl jumped up to back her teammate. They had this determined look in their eyes. This team reminded him so much of his younger years. Although blurry, the memory was still there.

"Would you calm down?" He heard his clone try to reason with the genin. "I'm not trying to hurt you!"

The genin continued their assault on the clone anyway, ignoring him. He watched as the silent boy from earlier made hand signs, forming two of him, both throwing kunai that his clone blocked. The girl and the other boy, on the other hand, were performing close combat. Every hit his clone tried to make on one of the kids were always blocked by the other genin just in time. Always protecting one another..

The jounin, however, was nowhere in sight. He wasn't fighting with his students, nor was he standing anywhere within eyesight. Shit, his mind raced. Have I been compromised? He tore his concentration away from his clone to look around wildly around him. But only trees surrounded him. Hearing a loud shout, Naruto turned back to look at his clone. He relaxed slightly, when he noticed the leader was behind a tree trying to flank the clone. He was drawing his sword, his expression serious. He'll attack while 'Naruto' is distracted, Naruto predicted. Naruto needed the genin out of the picture. His clone might get hurt then while defending the attack of the jounin. With a flick of his wrist, Naruto had the clone throw a kunai, pinning the silent boy into a tree near by. With a kick, Naruto's clone slammed the loudmouth boy back into the girl and they went flying into the air. The genin were now all a great deal away from their Sensei. The girl was slammed into a tree, completely by accident however. He watched the Sensei of the team leap into the air using a lightning technique he didn't understand. With his sword drawn the Sensei placed his hands on the blade that conducted the technique like live wire. Electricity sparked and flowed throughout the blade. Within seconds he was in front of Naruto's double.

"No one harms my students!" He shouted, shoving the blade deep within the clone.

The real Naruto watched his clone double over as a current of electricity conducted into his clone's body. The clone fell to his knees, blood spraying out of his mouth. The Sensei pulled the blade out with a smirk. Naruto knew these types of clones would pop when enough damage was taken. He would have to make it look planned. He pulled out a kunai just as the clone fell over, exploding into a white cloud.

"What the-?" The leader started, whirling around looking for the real Naruto.

Naruto threw the metal at the jounin. He brought his blade up to blocked the weapon as the 'fake' attempt to kill him bounced off onto the ground. Naruto formed more hand signs forming another clone to take off running in the opposite direction he was heading.

"There he goes Sensei!" One of the genin called out, pushing himself off the ground and giving chase to the fleeing clone.

"Get back here, you coward!" The loudmouth boy bellowed, sprinting after the fake Naruto.

Naruto sighed, watching them go. He was seriously beginning to doubt he was going to get across the border without another problem. Checking his surroundings once more he continued his journey. The clone would pop before he gets too far from the original owner. Lucky for him, he would be long gone before the Rock Nin realized they had been doped.

He didn't need a sign to tell him that he was entering Frost Country. Without a second glance he left Hot Springs Country far behind. The temperature dropped dramatically. He momentarily wondered if he jumped back in fourth behind the borders, whether it would be hot then cold. It was eerie how the temperature changed. Ice clung to branches of the trees and the further he went the more ice and snow he saw. He smiled upon realizing where he was. He wouldn't have to travel any longer. The main village was close to the border.

He jumped out of the trees as he approached Shimogakure. Although this village had no Kage, it still was a ninja village. He was still on guard and wary of others. Snow covered the village like a blanket. His feet made a crunching noise as he entered the barren land. There were no people out and about. The icy wind blew his hair across his face as he gazed around at the unpopulated village. It was beautiful. Houses and shops stood up from out of the ground, snow on their roofs. It almost looked deserted except for a lone figure standing on top of a large concrete structure.

"Leave it to a Leaf shinobi to be late." The figure said turning to face him.

His heart dropped when he saw the waves engraved upon the metal on her forehead. She? His counterpart was a female?

She was obviously strong. The chakra she was admitting was almost overwhelming, even with her covering most of it up. No matter, he could take her on. His smiled widely at the thought of beating a Mist Nin.

For it being so cold out here, she wore less layers of clothing than he did. Her arms were wrapped in white tape and stopped when the fabric met her red under shirt. Like him, she had her gray jounin jacket over her under shirt. His eyes traveled to her face. Her pink hair blew is the frosty wind like a fire. The next thing he noticed were her eyes, they were like green emeralds. Staring at them too long made him feel like he was trapped in some weird genjutsu, only he knew he wasn't. A shiver ran up his back. But not from the cold. He found something in her eyes that frightened him. They were hard and piercing, like nothing could break her barrier.

Someone once told him eyes were like the window to your soul. And if that statement was true, this Mist Nin has done things or been through something to make her like this. It was because of that philosophy he suddenly feared her.

Her arms were crossed as she gave him a pointed look, probably waiting for him to say something. But at this moment he was speech-less. He couldn't explain why he was acting this way. There was something about this ninja from the Mist that utterly terrified him, but yet at the same time made him feel like he would no longer be sharing his burden ever again. Almost like she was just like him; doing missions that slowly broke her apart into an empty shell. But then again, it was just a feeling. It was probably his brain acting up from all the schooling that pervert of a Sage taught him. He pushed his inner thoughts to the back of his mind. He was on a mission. He would not let the real Naruto show. He was Minato now. Turning his attention back to the Mist shinobi, he began to judge her strength.

"Hello? Are you the Leaf ninja I'm working with?" She asked plainly.

He pulled his lips back in a straight line, staring up at her. "Well, it doesn't look like any other Leaf ninja are here, does it? I thought you had figured that part out for yourself." Naruto remarked, smirking at her. When he looked hard enough, he swore he saw her eyes narrow.

The wind picked up again, fluttering his black and orange cloak like a flag in the wind. His blondish hair swayed to the side from the force of the air pushing past him. The Mist Nin's hair hid her face as the pink strands blew ever so slightly in the wind. Time seemed to freeze as they stared at one another.

He did not like this one bit. She seemed easily irritable and sarcastic. But, for the most part, first impressions were usually wrong. And this time, he hoped they were.

"I go by Minato." He said offering the Mist Nin his hand.

He waited for the slightest second, but as soon as he blinked she was gone. His hand slowly lowered back down in confusion. _Where the fuck did she go? _He didn't have to wait long because he felt an immediate presence behind him.

**Sakura**

"Hello, I'm Ayumi." She stated, smiling.

He whipped around to find her holding out her hand.

_Blonde hair, blue eyes, tan, muscular. He'll be such a shame to kill.._

"Oh, so now you wanna shake hands?" He said, crossing his arms.

Sakura's smiled vanished. "Shake my hand." Minato's eyes widened as he quickly offered his hand. She grasped it and gave it a firm shake. _I don't like him._

When their connection broke, Sakura began walking further into the village. "Come on, our hotel is this way."

"You shake hands like a man."

Sakura's steps stopped. "What did you say?"

Minato cleared his throat. "I said, you shake hands like a man." By the time he finished his sentence he was standing 1 foot behind Sakura. Her eyebrow twitched. Sakura spun around and punched Minato square in the chest and sent him flying into the Frost Village's border wall. _I definitely don't like him._

After watching the snow that had rested on top of the wall bury Minato, she continued in the direction she was originally headed without bothering to wait for Minato to get up. _Why does such an incredibly sexy man have to be so damn annoying? _She shook her head. At this rate, she was convinced there was no such thing as a well-rounded man.

After she had walked 100 feet, Minato suddenly appeared by her side. She looked over at him. _He's fast._ _I didn't even hear him get up. _

"You should learn to rela-" Minato began.

Sakura cut in. "I figured we would debrief in your room. Tomorrow we'll get up early and begin asking around the village if they've spotted our target. We'll scout the area around the village for signs of him and come back and plan our strategy on how we'll go about eliminating him. Any objections?"

"Her." Minato stated.

Sakura looked over at him puzzled. "What?"

"Our target is a her, as in female."

She looked over and smirked at him. "I bet that rubs you the wrong way."

Minato looked at her, raising his eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

"I could tell when you first looked at me that you were shocked to find that I was female. And I couldn't help but note the slight hint of disappointment when you mentioned that our target is a girl, as well."

"So…?"

"So, you're completely sexist. Women are very capable of being a threat to another village. In fact, I could very well kill you right now."

Sakura chuckled at Minato's bewildered expression. "You could not! You would probably be an easy challenge compared to my previous opponents!"

Sakura smirked. "You will regret saying that."

When they reached the hotel Minato was about to walk straight up the receptionist's desk and ask for a room but before he got the chance to open his mouth, he was being pulled towards the stairs.

"Seeing as though you were 2 days late, I took the liberty of getting a room for you," said Sakura.

"Could you let go of me, then?" Minato asked. "It's not like you're my mother."

Sakura released his arm but kept her pace up the stairs. When she reached the third floor she opened the door that led to the hallway and began walking towards the end. "Our rooms are right across from each other at the end of the hallway. I thought it would be better that way." They arrived at the two last rooms. Sakura pointed at the one to their right. "That'll your room. Here's your key." She offered him the key and he took it and opened his door. Before he could react she was already waltzing into his room.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?" Minato asked, surprised.

"You're going to debrief me, of course," Sakura innocently smiled when she sat on the edge of his bed. She watched as he cautiously approached her.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're a pushy person? Besides, I just got here!" Minato argued.

"So? I just got here too. Two days ago." Sakura shrugged.

Minato narrowed his eyes. "It wasn't my fault. …Never-mind, you're impossible." He walked over and leaned against the wall opposite her with his arms crossed.

"You're wasting time." She stated matter-of-factly.

"Okay, well, before we begin I would like to know more about you. I mean after all we do have to work together for the next few weeks, maybe months. And right now I would have to say my comfort level is at an all time low."

Sakura shrugged. "Sure. My name is Ayumi. I have pink hair, green eyes, and I live in the Hidden Mist Village."

"You don't say?" Naruto sighed. "I'm actually trying to be serious here."

Sakura smiled gently. "Okay. I owe you at least that much. I did punch you into a wall." She cleared her throat. "Um, I wasn't born in Mist. I was born in another village." _Don't spill too much information, Sakura._ "But I don't remember which one. I know it was small but my parents don't talk about it. Yes, I have two parents. My mom is the best cook, ever. I have a little brother. Well, he's not technically my brother. My family all but legally adopted him when his fath-… But that's another story.. Um, I'm almost never home. Trust be told, I hate being an assassin. And I have no idea what I plan to do with myself.." Sakura trailed off and looked down at her lap.

Minato smiled. "Now, was that so hard?"

Sakura looked up and smirked. "Bite me."

"I just might have to take you up on the offer," Minato winked.

Sakura flushed mentally. She wasn't trying to flirt. Sakura wasn't even sure she knew how to flirt or what the concept of flirting was. She's never been in a real relationship or even gotten close with anyone of the opposite sex besides Shiro or her father.

But Sakura was sure not going to display her thoughts on her face, one of her famous attributes. "Now what about you? I hope you didn't intend for your question to be one-sided," she remarked. "Personally, I don't really care to know much about you, but I'm not about to let you have an advantage over me." Sakura smirked.

She felt his hovering gaze and rise a questioning eyebrow but he shook his head and began to speak.

"I'm Minato, from the elite group of ninja from the Hidden Leaf. I have no parents, they died when I was a baby. No siblings. As a child everyone I came in contact with hated me." He glanced to the side, as if remembering. "I never let it get to me. I knew one day I would be here. Well, not in this situation of course." He chuckled lightly. "My one and only dream is to become Hokage and I will."

"Opposites," Sakura whispered. He has something to strive for but she has something that he will never have.

"What?"

"Nothing." A serious expression returned to her face. "So, are you going to debrief me or not?"

"Fine." He agreed, but stayed standing across from her. "I don't know too much about her. All I know is that my Hokage has considered her a threat."

"A threat?"

"Yes. According to Intel, she rivals our Hokage in medical ninjutsu. Not to mention she is an ex-nin of the Leaf." He said watching her intently.

"So.. she could possibly know too much?"

"Yes, that's the idea." He sighed, leaning back on the heels of his feet. "I don't know where she is or her last location. My guess is that she has evaded anyone who has tried to look for her or has simply passed unnoticed." He finished.

"That's all you know?"

"Pretty much." He shrugged.

"Does this girl have a name?"

He smiled, "Oh, yes, of course. Haruno Sakura."

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><p><strong>So... What did you think? You should tell us in a review! And please give us constructive criticism. We would like to make this story as good as possible. <strong>

**Was there anything confusing? Any ideas? We have the story planned out, but we will still take suggestions considering what we have is not set in stone. :) **

**Thank you for reading!**

**Don't forget to check out NewYear's Tragedy! She has written some pretty fantastic stories.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay, I would like to explain a couple of things. **

**One: A ninja does not need super human strength to punch another ninja into a nearby wall. It's not a hard thing for a ninja to do. Also, Sakura had already shown she had amazing strength before she became Tsunade's apprentice in the real series. **

**Two: Tsunade is not the only person who can teach medical ninjutsu, therefore Sakura could have easily learned from anybody in the Mist village. **

**Three: There is a jutsu in this chapter that we made up. We're not sure if it's possible but it fits in with our story. We didn't give it a name. It will be used more than once in this story. **

**Four: Sakura's parents were not Leaf ninja and therefore knew nothing of importance about the Leaf. I'm 99% sure they would've been allowed to leave without much ****hassle****. If not, well they did in this story.**

**& Five: This is our story. It is made up. It will never happen in the series, obviously. We would very much like you to respect that fact. If you have a problem with it, please don't continue to read it and go find another story that fits your liking.**

**Please enjoy Chapter 3. **

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><p><strong>Sakura<strong>

Sakura's blood ran cold. _What did he just…? _In the split second that she lost it, she recomposed herself. She was not about to let this Leaf ninja get the best of her, even if he didn't know she was his target, yet.

She began to chew on the inside of her lip. It was a nasty habit of hers that she did when she got nervous.

"Are you sure you don't know anything else about her?" Sakura wanted to confirm he knew nothing about her appearance.

Minato stood with a thoughtful look on his face before he shook his head. "Nope. That's all I know."

Sakura nodded. "Okay, well I'm going to go ahead and head to my room. What time did you want to get started tomorrow?"

"Um, how about 9? That'll give the shops enough time to open."

"Sure." Sakura grinned. "I'll see you in the morning," she said as she was walking out of his room.

"Are you sure you don't want to start now? I mean, isn't tomorrow morning considered late for you?"

Sakura stopped and turned around till she was glaring at him. "Don't push your luck, I just may decide to wake you up at 4 o'clock to scout the entire frost country."

Minato rolled his eyes. "Oh please, I'm used to waking up at 4 o'clock."

Sakura scoffed. "Yea, I'm sure." And with that, she faced the door and stormed out of the room. The second his door closed she was already thinking about what to do with her new information.

_I am his target? How could this information not be known? There's absolutely no way I could be a threat to the Leaf! This is absurd! How on earth are we suppose to look for myself? What the hell am I going to do…_

Sakura found herself sitting on her bed with her head in hands. She took a deep breath.

_Okay, Sakura, calm down. This is a simple situation. You aren't one of the best ninjas in the Mist for nothing. What to do.. What to do.. Somehow I need to make another 'Sakura'. There is one jutsu.. But it takes a very precise amount of chakra. She can't look like me so.. What should she look like? How about.. long, blonde hair, tall and slender.. And she can wear the extra clothes that I packed. Tonight I will send her out to make sure that some of villagers and shop owners see 'Sakura'. Unfortunately, she will have to have my green eyes. That's the drawback to this jutsu. Tomorrow, sometime between afternoon and evening, I'll send her out again and make sure Minato and I spot her somewhere outside of the village. After a couple of minutes I'll have her disappear. In a couple days, we'll see her again and fight her. The battle will last awhile and when he's too intent on killing her, I'll simply kill him. _

Sakura sighed. _See, Sakura? Easy solution to an easy problem. The hardest part is going to be creating this clone every time I need it. It takes a lot of chakra and I have to put the right amount to make her perfect and believable. But that's okay. You've done this plenty of times. Just this time your life depends on it. _

Sakura stood up and walked over to look out of the window. She smiled to herself. _At least this mission won't be as hard at the beginning. Minato is definitely going to be entertaining. I wonder why my village wants him dead.. Surely he's well liked and respected. But then again, the Leaf wants me dead. _

Sakura began to think back to the debriefing just a few minutes ago. _So I rival the famous Hokage in medical ninjutsu huh? _She smirked. _That's definitely a self-esteem booster. But I don't understand the knowing too much part.. My parents weren't ninja and therefore didn't know any village secrets. I had only been a genin for less than a week.. It doesn't make sense._

Before Sakura's thoughts could continue, she noticed Minato walking past on the street down below. _I didn't even hear him open his door…_ But before she could ponder on that any longer her mind came up with a brilliant plan. _This is the perfect time to send out 'Sakura'! _

Already excited, Sakura hurried over and sat on her bed. She made a few quick hand signs, "Kage bunshin no jutsu." Sakura's exact clone appeared in front of her. _Okay Sakura, now concentrate. _She began to picture exactly what she wanted her clone to look like. Once she had it visualized in her head, she made another series of hand signs and began to concentrate. Chakra began to flow from Sakura into her clone at a slow steady pace. _Long blonde hair… Tall… _After a few minutes she opened her eyes to find the picture in her mind displayed right in front of her.

Sakura jumped up and smiled. "You're perfect!"

'Sakura' held out her arms and began to examine her body, "Wow, I'm hot!"

Sakura narrowed her eyes at her clone. "Excuse me? I think we look just fine!"

'Sakura' rolled her eyes. "Yea, because that's why we've had so many boyfriends."

"You know how busy we are! We don't have time for a boyfriend." Sakura was offended. _Is my own clone dissing me?_

"Well, while you're making excuses, all of us are patiently waiting for you to finally find somebody to start a family with! We're 23. And if the freaking Leaf is after us, I don't expect to live much longer!"

Sakura glared at her clone. "You've said enough. I'm sending you out now."

'Sakura' shrugged. "Whatever." She said as she began walking to the hotel room door. "Maybe I'll do us both a favor and just seduce this Minato. He is extremely gorgeous, by the way."

"Sure, and irritating as hell. Now go, before I just disperse you!"

"Yea, yea." 'Sakura' said as she closed the door behind her.

_Why are clones always so damn annoying…?_

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><p><strong>Naruto<strong>

_What was her problem?_ Naruto's hand reached up to scratch the back of his head as he gazed around his room, deep in thought.

One minute he is debriefing her. The next, she goes pale and quickly leaves. He had barely noticed, to be honest. Her face composed back to normal in the split second that it had changed. Why would she react that way to a name?

He leaned back onto his rough bed the hotel provided. Naruto glanced up at his appearance in the hanging mirror by the side of his bed and laughed. He looked like he'd seen a massacre. He shook his head, returning to his feet and heading for the door.

He was overreacting like always. Ayumi must have heard the name before in her missions. After all, Sakura is a famous rogue. Not to mention, she rivals the Hokage. What village in their right mind would ignore that fact? He needed to stop stressing over little things. It could be dangerous. What he needed to do was relax.

He pushed open the door and left the hotel swiftly. What he needed to do was find a ramen shop.

The temperature dropped along with the time of day. He could see every star and every constellation. It's was...different, but beautiful. In Konoha, the city lights usually covered up the night sky. But now the ominous glow shinned brightly overhead. Instinctively, he put his finger up and began tracing them with his pointer finger. Each one had a different story. He remembered the-!

_Slam_. Naruto drew in sharp breath and pulled back from the wall he had just run into. Bringing his hand to his face, he quickly looked around to see if anyone had noticed his stupidness. Sighing out of relief, he saw no one around. The streets were deserted. Naruto rubbed his nose where the pain was now a dull ache, hardly noticeable.

"Naruto, you dumbass," He mumbled angrily to himself and continued down the snow covered path deeper into the town.

Speaking of stupid, his mind reminded him, how stupid was it being thrown into a freaking wall by a Mist Nin? He groaned at the thought. Why did his brain remind him? He wanted to be Hokage and he couldn't even dodge a fist?

What was with that girl? One moment, she seemed slightly pleasant and the next he was off his feet, meters away covered in snow. She sure had a good arm he hated to admit. Dread loomed over him as he thought about the weeks he would have to work with her. It would be impossible, legitimately impossible. He just wouldn't be able to get along with her. Her temper wasn't even the worst of it. Besides her uncontrollable anger, she held this air about her that left him more confused then he came in with. She made him nervous. His heart always speeds up when looking at her and he couldn't think of better way to describe it. Oh, why did he have the feeling he would have to kill this girl before she killed him? Well, not literally of course. Naruto just knew he'd make a mistake, piss her off, and maybe end up in a ditch somewhere wondering what the hell happened.

He rolled his eyes and emptied all thoughts of his partner. He came out here to relax, not panic.

A delicious aroma enveloped him. His sixth sense picked up on it automatically. His eyes darted around him as his stomach rumbled with protest. The streets were dark but the smell had to be coming from somewhere.

"Ah, there you are!" He smiled seeing an open cafe not too far away from his current position.

It was like an open bar, similar to the one back in the Leaf. Wasting no more time, Naruto speed walked over to the hut. His mouth watered as his eyes scrolled down the menu hanging above. Jumping into an available seat in the middle of the single row of chairs, he faced a round man with beady eyes.

"Welcome to-" Naruto cut him off become he could finish.

"I'd like five bowls of your best ramen." He yelled the words out as if he couldn't contain them any longer.

The waiter's eyes widened. "Five b-bowls?" He stuttered, appalled by the quantity.

"You're right.." He said pretending to ponder the thought. "Make that six." Naruto smiled brightly.

"Y-yes, sir." He said turning back into the kitchen, his eyes wide as saucers.

A chuckle from beside him caught Naruto's attention. "I forgot how much Leaf shinobi could eat."

His eyes landed on a man a bar stool away from him. He had grayish hair and wore all white clothing with some silver accents through his attire. A Frost symbol was attached to his left arm, which was draped across the counter holding onto his mug. He had a friendly smile if it wasn't for the scar that ran over his nose. His eyes were tired and crinkled with age. His rugged appearance reminded him of the Third Hokage. Most ninjas don't survive long enough to reach old age. Naruto wondered how he appeared out of nowhere.

_Had this man already been here?_ Naruto thought to himself. Was I too distracted by the ramen to notice? He thought again, his eyes narrowing at the thought he had messed up, again.

The Frost Nin smiled slightly, not revealing his teeth. He pulled his left arm from the table and turned to where his full body was facing Naruto.

"I'm Akane, head ninja of the Frost Village." He told Naruto offering his hand to shake.

Without a second thought, Naruto grasped the man's hand. "Minato of the Hidden Leaf."

The man's eyes widened a faction of an inch then he smiled slightly. "Say, you kinda look like the Hokage."

Naruto almost choked on his own salvia. Him? Look like Granny Tsunade? Was he senile or something?

The old ninja continued. "Yea, the one will yellowish hair, right? Naki...no...Nazi...Namikaze! Yea that's his name I think." The Frost Nin said.

"Uh...no. He hasn't been our Hokage for many years now." Naruto told the man slowly, trying to appear surprised.

Most individuals don't notice the resemblance to his father. Weird. Maybe he could play it off.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry. It's been awhile since I last visited the Leaf. It's so far away and all. Who is your new Hokage?" He asked completely fine with his mistake.

"Tsunade.." Naruto told the man, wondering if the man would forget the second he told him.

"Huh. Never heard of her." He trailed off deep in thought as the first round of Naruto's ramen arrived.

"Thanks!" He told the waiter before digging into the bowl.

While eating, he realized he was in no danger. The Frost Nin was old and must've had a sharper mind when his father was still living. He sighed delighted, for the almost threat being false, but mostly because he hasn't had real food in two days.

Throwing the empty bowl to the side, he raised his eyebrow at the waiter as the frightened cook ran back into the kitchen to get rounds two and three. He rushed back in and placed the steaming bowls in front of him. Smiling, Naruto picked his chop sticks back up and bowls two and three soon met their fate.

"Ahhhhh.." He sighed leaning back, his stomach full.

"That will be five hundred ryo." The waiter said coming back around to face the Leaf jounin.

Pulling out the correct amount of money, he handed the waiter the money for the ramen. Naruto leaned back in the stool as far as he could without falling off. He stared at his accomplishment: a stack of leaning empty bowls.

"Didn't think you could do it at first." The same Frost Nin confessed. "But you had me convinced after the fourth bowl."

"Pssh. That was nothing. I'm watching what I'm eating." Naruto told the Frost ninja and glanced at the cook who stood staring at him with wide eyes.

"Isn't that something..." The Frost shinobi muttered, followed by a loud hearty laugh. Between laughs he managed to ask Naruto a question. "Tell me Minato.. What's a Leaf shinobi doing all the way up here?"

Naruto smiled at the man. "Just passing through."

"On your way to Lightning Country?" He asked his eyes more focused.

"No, Intel gathering. That's all." He told the Frost Nin trying not to spill too much.

"With the Mist nin?" He inquired.

Surprise flickered through him. "How did you know?"

"Well, for one, she arrived here before you did. I noticed her waiting for something. I didn't say anything though. She didn't seem to notice me. And two, I am the head of protecting this village so I watch who comes in and out of our borders. We may not have a Kage, but we're pretty efficient without one." He told Naruto, coughing when he finished.

Naruto laughed. "Should've expected as much."

The head Frost Nin appeared like he was about to say something but then he rose to his feet. "Sorry. Forgot I had to be somewhere." He nodded his head towards Naruto's direction. "Pleasure to meet you Minato, if you need any help with your mission, feel free to seek me out." He turned to leave.

"Wait." Naruto called out to him, halting him. "Why are you helping us? This isn't your mission."

The Frost Nin smiled slightly. "My family line was saved by the Leaf village in the 3rd Ninja War. If it wasn't for the Leaf taking us in, we would of stayed here and been right in the middle of a battle zone. Whose knows if my ancestors would have survived..?" With that he disappeared outside, his white uniform blending him in with the snow.

"Huh.." Naruto mumbled standing to his feet, his mind still contemplating what the Frost had shinobi told him.

He left the shop and glanced at the snow where the old man had disappeared. No footprints. God that Frost Nin was good.

His stomach full and his eyelids starting to droop, he changed his course for the hotel. It would be an early start in the morning for the search of the infamous Sakura Haruno. Who knows where she could be hiding? She could look no different than a civilian for all he knew.

He pulled his red cloak closer around his body as the wind blew, throwing up ice wind in his face. The village lights were almost all out as the town began to sleep. He shuffled faster towards the hotel, fatigue hitting him like a rock.

A crunching sound made its over to his ears. It was distant but the way the footsteps fell caught his attention. Sidestepping, Naruto moved into an alleyway pressing his back up against the wall as best he could. The katana hidden beneath layers of his clothing prevented from his back from fully touching the brick, but it was the best he could do.

As the crunching noise drew nearer, he realized the noise was in fact footsteps in the snow. The owner of which walked loudly, but not as loud as a normal civilian. It hit him that this person must be a ninja trying to conceal their identity.

Naruto kept his mind calm and clear. It could very well be Akane or another Frost Nin on his nightly rounds.

A shadow passed as the person walked right by the ally way. Poking his head out just enough to see, he had to bite back a sharp intake of breath. This was no civilian, he had been right. But it was also no Frost ninja.

It was a girl, tall one at that. She had her long blonde hair drawn back into ponytail with her bangs cut straight across covering her eyes. She wore a simple purple top with black pants. He thought her harmless at first but a few details stuck out in her appearance. And a few details could change the course of any decision.

Strapped around her waist were two small scrolls. The buckle holding them in was the quick access type, which meant if she had to, she could remove the scroll within seconds of her choosing. Another detail he almost missed pointed itself out to him when her leg moved forward as she kept walking. There was a difference in the way her pant leg fell on her thigh. It gave him the impression she had a concealed weapon beneath her layer of clothing. That always meant bad news, he sighed.

The last detail he noticed was very simple really. She wore no jacket even though it felt like fifty below out here. Even a civilian who planned on going to the Frost would pack accordingly. That showed she was not from around here, crossing her out from being a Frost Nin or traveling civilian.

Could it be possible? Was this Sakura Haruno, the ex-ninja of the Hidden Leaf that he was ordered to assassinate? The one who rivaled his Hokage with medical ninjutsu and progressing strength? If that was true, she would already know Naruto was in the alleyway. He didn't cover his signature or even attempt to. A ninja of that amount of skill would have seen his failed attempt at hiding.

"Crap.." Naruto cursed himself quietly.

He glanced back out from the alleyway. She was gone. Almost like she was never there to begin with, just like a figment of his imagination.

He pulled himself out of the dark corner and followed the footprints left in the snow clear as daylight. It was like she was inviting him to follow her.. The tracks stopped abruptly as if the owner just vanished. He turned his head right to left looking for a way the girl could have possibly gone.

He jerked his head to the top of a roof nearby at the sound of a shingle falling off onto the snow.

"Wait!" Naruto called out after the shadow figure that turned back and disappeared onto the houses.

Wasting no time, he jumped off his feet and onto the house. The snow gave away slightly at his weight but before it could crumble, he was already pushing off and taking flight after the shadow. The girl or what he assumed the shadow was, moved quickly from house to house. Never once did she stumble or falter. Naruto tried to keep up, he honestly did. But he just wasn't accustomed to the Frost Village's environment. With one faulty step on a snow covered roof, the snow gave way and so did his feet. He slid off the building and threw his arms up over his face to cover the impact at the last second. Naruto felt his body suspended in air for a second before he landed in a deep pile of snow with a thud. Bits of snow flew up on the air and rained down on him as he glared at the roof. He looked like a damn snow globe!

With a frustrated yell he clawed his way out of the snow and pulled himself back onto the roof. The girl was gone, again. But just when he thought it wasn't his lucky day, Naruto noticed the footprints still in tack on the snow. Smiling at the thought of finally catching the mysterious girl, he took off again following the trail.

House by house, he kept going. His eyes darted around in all directions looking for any side of the girl, but to no avail. She couldn't have gone far, he kept telling himself. He pushed himself harder, straining his vision to see farther. Snow. Houses. Trees. That was it. No girl.

After awhile, he slowed down to a halt on top of a two story house. He gazed to his left for the longest time trying to end the mini battle in his head. He swore he had seen that same house on the left three times already. Or maybe it was just the way the houses in this village were built. They were all similar to one another.

He wiped his brow; sweat starting to form along his face. How far did this girl go without stopping? Naruto glanced down at the tracks he had been following and a random suggestion popped into his brain. Lifting his foot up he placed it into the footprint in the snow.

Humiliation and annoyance hit him like a ton of bricks. His foot was a perfect fit to the tracks. Naruto lifted his head into the air and howled with anger. He had been following himself for the past three hours.

* * *

><p><strong>You should tell us what you thought about this chapter in a review! :)<strong>

**However, if all you have to say is negative, please click the back button. We do not appreciate unnecessary rudeness.**

**I would like to reiterate, that Sakura's clone jutsu (where she makes her clone look like whatever she wants) is made up. So please consider that if you were going to complain about it.**

**Thank you for reading. We hope you are already anticipating the next chapter! :)**

**Be sure to check out NewYear's Tragedy. She is writing this story along with me and she's written some fabulous stories on her own.**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Thank you to all of the reviewers. You help us fix our mistakes and give us encouragement. Just a reminder this is a partner story with MissUndescribablexx and I (NewYear's Tragedy).**

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><p><strong>Naruto<strong>

_His heart was pounding, hammering loudly against his ribs. His body was tense and ready as his heart pumped blood through his veins. _

_He knew he had no reason to be scared but there was something wrong, very wrong. He was in the Frost Village, he was sure of it. The buildings were familiar. But they were not covered in snow, or even ice. He could see the green grass as the sun's rays danced across it. It reminded him of the sea. Like a domino effect, the waves of grass crashed into each other in sequence._

_A cool breeze fluttered his hair. He was no longer the only one here. It was that girl from before. The blonde who had carefully avoided him, the one who had lead him on a wild goose chase. This girl had to be none other than Sakura Haruno. _

_Naruto made a move to take a step towards her, but he hesitated. She stared into his eyes, her expression blank. He tried again but couldn't move. He quickly realized he hadn't hesitated before. He was paralyzed; not by fear, or admiration, or any other silly emotion. He just couldn't move. His legs were not responding. Was this a genjutsu? _

_"What do you what?" Was what he tried to call out but he couldn't form the words. They died on his lips. _

_It was then he realized that no part of his body could move. Not his arms, not his legs, he couldn't even blink. Upon his realization, Sakura slowly approached him while never once breaking the contact her eyes held on his. Pale green eyes, eyes so familiar, but he couldn't find a single memory to support it. He felt himself try to lean back away from her, but of course his body was useless, ignoring his commands. _

_She stopped a foot away from him, her expression still blank. Right then the scene changed. It was no longer Sakura staring at him; it was Ayumi. She reached behind her and pulled out her sword and lowered the weapon to her side. Her eyes hardened as her eyebrows pulled together. _

_He struggled against the impossible paralysis he was stuck in, but to no avail. He was trapped. He had lost. _

_"It's amazing what can result from one minor mistake. Don't you agree?" Ayumi told him, her voice so different than it usually was. _

_Without another word, she pulled her sword back and brought it forward with superhuman__ speed. _

_The grass that had just been a beautiful green was now stained with dark, red blood._

* * *

><p>Naruto jerked upright in his bed as he searched for the non-existent threat, his heart pounding uncontrollably. As his vision cleared, and he realized it was only a dream, he relaxed back into the hotel bed. A loud rapping against his door turned his attention elsewhere.<p>

Naruto slid his fingers roughly through his hair before pushing himself off the bed and yelling, "I'm coming!"

He pulled on a pair of black pants and slipped his black long sleeve jump suit over it. He knocked over a couple of objects trying to find his green flat jacket. The continued rapping on the door aggravated him. Giving up on the vest, he made his way to the door. Swinging it open, he came face to face with the pink haired Mist Nin.

"What do you want?" He asked, his eyelids still heavy with sleep.

"I thought you were used to waking up at four-o'clock in the morning." She smirked as her arms crossed in front of her chest.

"Four-o'clock..?" He asked, twisting around just enough to peek at the clock in his room. "So it is.." He confirmed while slowly facing the Mist Nin again.

"Are you ready? Or do I need to come back in a half an hour?" She asked. He just now noticed she was fully clothed.

"Of course, I'm ready now! Just one moment.." Naruto told her heading back into his room looking for his vest and cloak.

"I can't believe she literally woke me up at four a.m." He grumbled, finding his vest and zipping it on. "Crazy ass Mist Nin."

He heard her snicker from outside his door.

"Correction; eavesdropping, crazy ass Mist Nin," He said loud enough for her to hear before grabbing his katana and cloak.

Naruto clipped his weapon around his shoulder and shoved one of his arms through the armhole. He then made his way to the door and shoved his other arm into his cloak.

"Where to?" He asked, wondering where they would go at _four_ in the morning.

"Well, we have some time before the villagers wake up so I thought we would check around the outskirts to see if any camp sites have been covered up or put out in the past few weeks," Ayumi responded.

_Check for what?_ Oh, wait. _Duh, Sakura._ The memory of the blonde haired ninja forced its way into his mind.

"Speaking of which.." Naruto started, closing his hotel door as they made their way down the hallway to the stairs. "I think I saw her last night."

"Really? How can you be sure?" Ayumi asked, surprised.

"Yea, she was blonde and had scrolls on her person. I knew she couldn't have been civilian." He stopped at the edge of the stairs. "I could bore you with all the details but to make a long story short, she avoided me and ran away when I gave chase." He started down the stairs, not waiting for an answer.

He heard her footsteps after him and he continued out the hotel door into the chilly morning air.

"Her chakra was suppressed and I couldn't see her eyes so I couldn't give you a proper description anyway." He told Ayumi, not wanting to sound unobservant.

"Why do you think this girl could have been Sakura?" Ayumi asked as they trudged through the snow towards the village gate.

It took them 2 minutes to reach it. The hotel had been surprisingly close.

He glanced down at her through his eyelashes. "Besides the fact she was hiding her chakra and ran from me, I have no idea. Sakura, or who ever she was, is the only unknown ninja from these parts. So that's my reason I guess." As they exited the village and entered the forest he stepped over a fallen log. "Weird how she happens to show up on my first day looking for her."

Ayumi stopped and gave him a weird look. He smiled and offered his hand to help her over the log.

"I mean, when do you actually find your target on the first day? Hopefully, we can find her and leave as soon as possible." His smile grew bigger at the thought of leaving and heading back to the Leaf.

She rolled her eyes, appearing more at ease and pushed his hand away as she easily jumped off the rotten wood.

"Ladies first." He motioned towards the rows of trees.

"You'd get lost anyway." Ayumi mumbled stepping in front of him and continuing through the snow covered branches. "Remember to look for signs of disturbances."

He chuckled following close behind her. "This isn't my first assassination, sweet cheeks."

She abruptly stopped her hand holding onto the bark of a nearby tree she was about to use as leverage. "What did you say?" Her voice annoyed as the bark cracked under her finger tips.

"Sweet chips. I said sweet chips. You ever had any of those? They taste pretty good." His sweat dropped as he smiled awkwardly.

"That's what I thought you said." She let go of the tree and pushed off of it.

"Heh.." Naruto followed after her.

A silence followed after their brief conversation as they took refuge inside their own minds. Naruto never lost pace with her even though she seemed to be trying to leave him behind. Every now and then they would stop and rub their palm over the snow searching for signs of human presence. But more often than not it was nothing.

He would vaguely wonder why Tsunade did not send Kiba on this mission. It would be easier for him to track a person's scent after all. But before he could even expand on the idea, he remembered Kiba had currently been on a mission when he returned to the Leaf.

"Day dreaming, Minato?" A voice called out.

He look up and realized he had stopped walking.

"Uh, yea. Sorry." He replied, jogging to catch up to her.

"There are a couple of broken branches on the ground, heading this way." She said looking at the ground.

And sure enough, there was.

"Look." Ayumi told him, her finger pointing out towards a frozen lake hidden by a few large trees. "I guarantee if Sakura was in these parts, she stopped there."

"Why do you say that?" Naruto asked passing her up and approaching the iced over lake.

She scoffed from behind him. "Besides the fact that it's a water source?"

He stopped at the edge where ice met land. He bent down and placed his bare hand over the ice feeling how thick it was. It was thick enough to stand on but not jump.

He glanced along the riverbank before his eyes rested on a crack in the ice a little farther out from his current position. He moved into a better position to see and squatted down. Out a little ways from the shore, a small circle was drawn into the ice. The circle was cut all the way through the ice until it hit water. A small layer of new ice had formed over the hole, however.

He tilted his head, gazing at the circle. He smiled at his discovery. She had been here. Now the question was, how long ago?

He drew a kunai from the back of his pocket and reached forward to try to poke the ice over the small hole. If it broke through easily, Sakura was still here. If not, she left a while ago. Straightening out his arm, he reached for the ice-covered hole but with no success. It was too far out with his legs still on land. Sighing, he pulled the metal back in his pocket and stood up.

"Minato, don't." Ayumi said from behind him, as if reading his mind.

"Don't what?" He asked taking a light step onto the ice and another over to the hole.

She sighed watching him, shaking her head. "Idiot."

Another step, a shake of her head. Another step, a warning. Another step; silence. He reached down to poke the ice above the hole and it cracked easily under his fingers.

_She was still close by!_ His mind yelled. He smiled lopsidedly at Ayumi, proud to have found this before her. She was about to answer before his left foot sank a little and a crack echoed in his ears.

"Minato. Don't move. The ice is thin where you are." Ayumi told him her eyes wide as she looked at his feet.

Of course. She was a Mist Nin and therefore used water techniques. He realized his mistake too late. The ice he had tested was close to the shore and was thicker. As you move in to the middle, the ice becomes thin because of the depth of the water.

He glanced down at the crack that had formed from the hole. It ran right between his feet. Another second passed and little cracks began to form around his left foot. He slowly brought his head up to look at Ayumi who was now at the edge of the bank.

"Take my hand." She ordered him and she reached her hand out towards him.

More microscopic cracks appeared as he slowly lifted his hand up towards hers. A series of cracks surrounded his feet. Some of the water began to seep through and flow above the ice.

Ayumi stared at him, a silent command passing between them. Then, she nodded her head. "Now!"

He leaned forward and grasped her hand just as the shift of weight sent a loud crack into the air as the ice gave way. He felt ice-cold water envelope his feet as Ayumi pulled him towards shore. He tried to avoid colliding with her but he had no control of where she pulled him. His body slammed down into hers and they both fell off their feet into the snow on the bank of the lake. Naruto's face slammed into the snow above her shoulder, while he heard her let out all the air she was holding in her lungs. Knowing he was crushing her, he rose to support himself with his elbows and looked down at her making sure he did no real damage. Her hand was pinned under his arm, where their hands still held each other's. Her other hand was trapped beneath his chest. The snow had made her hair wet. It was almost surreal. He was unbelievably close to her, his lips mere inches away from hers. Her eyes, usually dull, were slightly brighter. Before he could stop himself and reserve what dignity he still had left, his eyes glanced down at her body. He had never noticed just how damn good looking this Mist Nin was. His smile turned to a look of horror as he realized their position. But that was nothing compared to the glare on her face. He did notice the slight blush on her cheeks, but he was sure it was because of anger.

In a spilt second, he made a decision. He rolled off of the top of her and jumped to his feet. Within seconds he was sprinting through the woods. If he learned anthing upon their meeting, she was quick to anger.

"MINATO!" He heard her scream and more frightfully, her pursuit.

He crashed through the trees as fast as he could, branches breaking on impact with his body.

"YOU GET BACK HERE!" Her voice was closer now.

He couldn't help the wide grin that spread across his face as he booked it through the trees. Naruto heard the crashing of her pursuit through the trees as he sped up. He glanced back at her and saw her pink hair poking out through the branches. He slowed down when he reached a snow-covered cliff blocking his path.

He turned around into a defensive crouch. "Ayumi, it wasn't my fault."

She pushed her way through the branches before stopping right in front if him.

"You're lucky I'm tired." She told him between gasps. "I told you not to go. Idiot. The ice was thin where the hole was."

"It's a little too late to inform me now, don't ya think?" Naruto chuckled.

"Are you trying to catch hypothermia?" She asked, pulling a strand of her hair behind her ear.

"You didn't have to help me." He defended.

"I was considering it. But then I'd have to cross the ice to drag your ass out. And that would risk me falling in and meeting the same fate." She sighed.

"Listen about the... Uh.. You know." He started, trying to make the situation as less awkward as possible.

"Just forget it." She replied glancing over to the side.

"Right.." He agreed. "Uh, the layer of ice that had begun to cover the hole was easily breakable meaning she could still be in close proximity."

"Wow, you catch on pretty fast," She stated sarcastically. "Let's go. We're wasting time."

He sighed looking at her. Unbelievable. And just when he thought she was beginning to slowly open up, she closes up again.

"Let's head back. I bet the civilians are waking up." Ayumi told him eager to leave as she headed back through the woods.

"Speaking of civilians, Ayumi, I did meet the head Frost shinobi last night. He might be of some use." Naruto offered, remembering the man.

"Good. That will help us out." She nodded, but didn't glance at him.

He let out a breath, pursing his lips and averted his attention to the side. Great. That stunt pissed her off. It's not like he meant it. She was the one who pulled him to her. Damn Mist ninja; so unpredictable.

He put his hands behind his head, supporting it. Not even two minutes into the walk back he was already tired of the silence. Well, if she wanted to be serious, he would be serious and get some information out of it while he was at it.

"Can I ask you a personal question, Ayumi?" He asked, glancing at her through his eyelashes.

"Depends. How personal?" She answered, her eyes still trained forward.

He let out a deep breath before crossing his arms. "Do you like what you do?"

"Excuse me?" She asked stopping and turning to face him.

"Being an assassin?" He elaborated, watching her reaction.

"How did you know?" She asked, unsure of him.

"An assassin can tell if another is one too. I can see it in your eyes. You can't hide it from me, Ayumi." He explained.

She merely rolled her eyes and continued their walk. "You get used to it."

He jogged to catch up to her. "That's not what I asked."

"Why are you even asking?" She said, obviously wanting off the subject.

_Why are you refusing to answer?_

"Because I hate to see people like us. Your eyes hold years of tragedy and death behind them, more than any human sees in a life time." He told her.

"It's our job. Our career. It's not like we have a choice." She pointed out.

"True. But don't you ever wish it wasn't like that? That we didn't kill for a living?" He asked, just wanting to hear her side of it all.

"You don't know everything about me." She told him, dropping her gaze.

"Pssh. I think I do. I see it, too, every time I look in the mirror, Ayumi. Why must you lie to yourself?" He asked staring at her back.

Physical appearance that holds no scars, but the insides are completely torn up. Green eyes, once bright, now dulled with death and dark with the sight of bloodshed. A girl he previously believed to be heartless and cold, but in truth, she was just broken.

"You think you know?" She stopped mid-step to face him, her eyes burning with unknown pain. "Twenty people last month! Over three hundred in my whole career!" She shouted. His eyes widened.

That number was huge. He hasn't even killed half that number. Her soul has taken on much more damage than he could have ever imagined. _Broken beyond repair_, somewhere deep in his mind offered.

"Ayumi, I didn't know.." He started but she cut him off.

"Forget it." She waved him off and continued until they broke through the tree line.

And just like that, no matter what the cost, he wanted to put the pieces of her tortured soul back together. They were still not friends; not even acquaintances. But an understanding just passed through them. They were both trapped by where their loyalty lies.

* * *

><p><strong>Sakura<strong>

Sakura had receded into the recesses of her mind. _How dare he think he knows everything about me because we have one minor thing in common.. _But she wasn't about to show him how deeply it affected her. Instead, she pretended as if she was pissed off, as per usual.

To distract herself she began to think back to their awkward situation with the ice. Thinking about it only made her mad, which made her expression genuine. _That flippin' idiot… To think that he could safely reach the hole and make it back to land without so much as making a crack.. _She mentally shook her head. _He's lucky he has the body of a God or he would not have escaped that situation unharmed. _Suddenly the part of her mind that barely made itself noticed, made itself known. _His body.. I could stare at it all day and-_ In the split second that that thought had occurred she quickly took it back. _Sakura, get a grip of yourself! You're going to make this mission harder than it already is. _She stole a glance at him with her peripheral vision. _Still, it wouldn't hurt to try and get a better glimpse. _

"Ya know, I still can't believe you woke me up at 4 o'clock in the morning! I bet it's only like 6 now. The villagers are probably not even up yet. Only people by the name of Ayumi get up at that crazy hour!" He was trying to distract her. In a weird way, it relieved her. Sakura decided to play along.

"I highly doubt that." _Especially considering my name isn't Ayumi. My mom would never dream of getting up at that 'ungodly hour', as she puts it._ "Besides, aren't you the one that said you were _used_ to getting up at that hour? I only tried to please you." She added with a wink. "Many people in my village get up around that hour to complete a morning workout or begin they're training."

"And I'm going to assume you're one of them?" Minato asked, already appearing as if he knew the answer.

Sakura shrugged.

Minato shook his head. "Crazy ass Mist Nin.. And what do they do after this 'morning workout'? Lay around and watch the clouds roll by the rest of the day?" His pitch began to lower as he mumbled, "But then again I do have this one friend who basically watches clouds for a living.." he trailed off. After he finished his thought, Minato's face suddenly lit up. He turned to look at Sakura. "Have you ever had a boyfriend?"

Sakura grinned. "You're a scatterbrain, ya know that?"

Minato narrowed his eyes and frowned. "That wasn't my question."

Sakura became serious again. "Why do you want to know? I don't see how this pertains to the mission."

He shrugged. "Well, why not tell me? After this mission, we'll never see each other again and the information won't be any good to me when I get back to the Leaf."

_When you get back to the Leaf in a body bag. _Sakura sighed. "I suppose you're right." She paused. "The answer to your question in no, I have never had a boyfriend."

Sakura turned to watch Minato's reaction and was shocked to find that he seemed surprised by her answer.

It confused her. "Are you surprised?"

"W- well yea! I mean you're gor- really cool." He quickly stared ahead, trying to hide his embarrassment from his almost slip-up. After a few seconds he turned back to her, recomposed, and said gently, "It's just kinda shocking. Why not?"

Sakura looked at him. "Is it not obvious?"

"What is?"

"Other than the fact that I've been too busy to even think about having feelings for someone else since I was 15, I'm not exactly all that pretty. Not one of the men in my village have shown the least bit interest in me." She shrugged.

He slightly recoiled at her statement. "Not pretty? Ayumi, I'm not trying to make our partnership awkward, but in my opinion you are beautiful." After a couple of seconds he chuckled.

_Did he just..?_ "Are you laughing?" For some reason, that hurt Sakura. It felt like she was just pricked in the heart with a kunai.

Minato must have realized what he had just done because his smile quickly faded and he put up his hands defending himself. "No no no no. Ayumi, I didn't laugh because my statement was a joke. I was just thinking that all of those men were probably terrified to approach you."

Sakura relaxed slightly, though she was not fully satisfied with his response. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Minato sighed and softly smiled at her. "You take some things too seriously, you know that? Ayumi, you are not the most approachable person. You give off a 'don't mess with me' vibe and I can guarantee you that it scares the hell out of those other men, including the ninja. I am a guy after all, I do know what I'm talking about. For example, do you ever watch peoples' expressions as you walk by them? We are here in the Frost for one day and you already command total attention. You are just not aware of the affect you have on men. Yesterday, even some of the women held a hint of jealousy in their eyes."

Sakura went quiet to ponder what Minato had just said. _Could that really be the reason..? _She looked over at Minato as a thought popped into her head. She smirked, "Did you call me beautiful?"

He turned to look at her. He was either good at concealing his embarrassment, which she knew wasn't the case, or he simply wasn't embarrassed. "Yes I did."

Sakura turned her attention to the path they were walking on, as they were still not out of the forest yet. _I have never been called beautiful.. What if he's just saying that so I'll be nice to him? But he didn't look as though he was lying._. "Have you ever had a girlfriend?"

Minato seemed unprepared for her question. "I would rather not talk abo-" He ended his objection when he saw Sakura raise her eyebrow. "Alright. You deserve to hear my answer as well. Yes, I have had a girlfriend, unfortunately."

"Explain," Sakura said.

He sighed. "Her name is Hinata. She had been obsessed with me since I could remember. I really didn't take notice of it until I was about 17. Yes I know, that is a long time. I'm sure you've realized I am not the most observant person," He added when she gave him an amused smile. "When I did realize it, I thought why not give her a chance. She was gorgeous and was the heiress to a very well known family." He paused, as if remembering.

Sakura gently urged him to continue. "What happened?"

"At first, the relationship went pretty well. She was my first girlfriend so I was inexperienced, but I was a complete gentleman, however. I don't know what happened, really. The relationship just started falling apart after a couple of months. We became distant, though I don't believe we ever really got close. I think she realized I wasn't all that she had cracked me up to be. In the back of her mind, I think she had decided that I couldn't give her what she was asking for. She was expecting too much out of me at such an age." He stopped.

Sakura decided she shouldn't push him any further. It was obvious this was a sensitive subject for him.

But of his own accord he continued, "I think… I think she thought I wasn't good enough for her. I think her obsession was based off of my determination. She wasn't the strongest ninja. I don't come from money. My parents died the day I was born…" Minato trailed off.

When Sakura finally decided he wasn't going to continue any further, she reached over with her left hand and placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled sincerely. They both stopped walking and stared at each other for a few seconds. A small smile graced Minato's lips. Sakura felt a small connection pass between them.

And as if on cue, they both continued walking at the same time.

_Maybe this Hinata was just annoyed as hell of him. I can sympathize with that. _Deep in the back of Sakura's mind she knew this statement was not true. But she had to make up a lie in order for her newfound feelings to stay hidden. _This is what I will keep telling myself. Maybe, I'll actually believe it._

Silence enveloped Sakura and Minato as they finally burst forth from the tree line and continued into the Frost village.

When they walked back through the gates, Sakura looked over at Minato and almost stopped walking. _Sakura, you freaking idiot! How dare you let yourself open up with your target! This is the stupidest thing you've ever done. _Sakura quickly turned her attention back to the street and began focusing on her mission. _We're most likely going to go back to the forest later today after collecting more information about 'Sakura'. I'll suggest we take a break and I'll go back to the hotel. I knew I would need a senbon for this mission. And I still have a little poison left from my previous mission. I will apply the poison to the senbon. I saw a spot in the forest I thought might be a clearing. That's exactly what I need. When we reach it, I will… seduce him. I'm gonna have to suck up my pride. Hopefully, that dope believes there's already a little something between us. I'll have to build on that. As I lean in to kiss him I am going to stick the senbon in at the back of his neck near the back of the vertebrae. The type of poison I will use will paralyze the spinal cord, affecting the entire nervous system. Half a minute after the initial injection, the body will be momentarily stunned, which of course means Minato will be fully aware of what will be happening. After the 30 seconds the poison will reach his brain causing a menial hemorrhage, which will kill him. Perfect. _Sakura let out a sigh. _There, Sakura. All it took was a little thinking. _

"Is something wrong?" Minato asked.

Sakura looked over at him, puzzled. Before she could ask what he was talking about, it occurred to her. "Oh. No of course not. I guess I was just anticipating the long day ahead of us."

Minato chuckled. "You're the one that decided to start the day at 4 o'clock."

"Some habits are hard to change."

He shrugged. "I suppose."

"Do you mind if we stop by the hotel? I forgot to eat breakfast," Sakura lied sheepishly.

Minato smirked. "Oh so now you're asking me for permission? I've never held so much power in my life."

Sakura narrowed her eyes and glared at Minato. "I see how it is. I try to be nice and it backfires. From now on, I will not listen to a single call you make."

Ignoring her statement, Minato continued, "I found a ramen shop last night. I was going to stop by there if you want to join me."

She wrinkled her nose at the thought of ramen. "Um, definitely not."

With that, Sakura began running towards their hotel. She knew she had left Minato in a daze.

It took Sakura all of 10 seconds to reach the hotel. When she reached the entrance, she slowed her pace and leisurely walked up the stairs to her room. The second she entered, she began searching for her senbon. She walked over to her backpack and opened it. Feeling around the bag, she found it in a little pocket that was invisible until close inspection. After retrieving the senbon, she opened her pouch that kept all of her necessary medical herbs in case of emergencies and picked out the small vile of poison. She opened the vile and dipped both ends of the senbon into the concoction so she would not have to pay mind to which specific end she would need to stick Minato with. After the task was completed she slid the senbon into her tape that surrounded her forearms for easy access careful not to scratch herself, as such an action would kill her instead.

When she was done she walked over to the supplied mirror and truly looked at her reflection. What she saw shocked her. Sure, Sakura would gaze at her appearance in her bathroom mirror from time to time, but it would be nothing more than a quick glimpse. She never cared much for vanity. Only when her missions involve seduction did she ever tend to her looks. But she hadn't received one of those in years. She liked to tell herself it was because she was needed for more important missions, when her subconscious told her it was because the younger female ninja were much prettier and could accomplish the task easier.

But now, when she focused on her appearance, she knew the latter was not true. Sakura wouldn't say she was drop dead gorgeous, but she was definitely attractive. _Maybe Minato was right… When I get back to the Mist I am definitely going to open myself up a bit more. I could use someone to keep me sane. _

She turned away from the mirror and gazed around her room. _I thought I would be here a lot longer. But maybe after this mission the Mizukage will finally give me a well deserved vacation. I could definitely use one. _Sakura had one more preparation to make. She walked over to the bed and sat down. After making a short series of hand signs, she whispered, "Kage bunshin no jutsu."

Five minutes later, Sakura was staring at 'Sakura'. "You know what to do. Avoid the ramen shop."

'Sakura' nodded and walked over to the window. After opening it, she slipped through it and down to the street.

Sakura stayed sitting on her bed for a minute longer before exiting through the hotel room door and, soon after, the hotel's entrance. She decided to explore the Frost for a little bit. 'Sakura' was going to need some time to be noticed by shop owners so she had time to spare.

After an hour or so, when Sakura noticed shops opening for morning business and the streets were becoming busy, she decided it was probably time to find Minato. Sakura made a hand sign and whispered, barely audible to her own ears, "Release!"

_Good, 'Sakura' was spotted exiting the village. _With a sense that her plan might follow through without any complications, Sakura set out to find the ramen shop.

It only took her five minutes. To her surprise, Minato was still sitting in a barstool. He must have noticed her approaching because he turned around and waved, with ramen noodles protruding out of his mouth. _That is repulsive. _

"Hey Ayumi! You really should've joined me! This ramen is amazing!"

"Hurry up and finish. We need to continue our mission."

Seriousness spread over Minato's face as he quickly gulped down his mouthful. "Right. Here's your money!" He deposited the appropriate amount of money onto the counter and began walking away with her.

"I already asked the ramen shop owner whether he had seen Sakura. He hadn't. But he gave me a couple of shops' names to check out." Sakura nodded.

They asked every single shop owner that was suggested, but to no avail. None of the shop owners had seen anybody remotely close to their description.

_Oh come on 'Sakura'. Tell me _somebody_ noticed you around here! _

As they exited the current shop they were in, Minato shouted, "Hey, Akane-sama!" Sakura followed his eyes to an older ninja with gray hair. He looked up at Minato's address. "Well, look who it is. How are you doing today Minato?"

"I wish we had time for conversation, but we're tied for time. Would you by chance have seen that ninja I was describing to you last night?"

Akane's face lit up. "Actually, I have! I saw her strolling to the gates about 15 minutes ago."

Immediately, Minato took off toward the gates shouting, "Thank you Akane-sama!"

"I'm Ayumi," Sakura smiled and slightly bowed before pursuing Minato.

_Alright, Sakura. This has been one of your easiest missions yet. Let's finish it._

* * *

><p><em><em>**Thank you for being patient. I hope this chapter was well worth the wait. I hope there were minimal grammatical mistakes, if any. **

**Please tell us what you think in a review! :)**

**Be sure to check out NewYear's Tragedy!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Thank you to everyone who is continuing to read our story! We appreciate your support. We hope you enjoy the 5th chapter.**

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><p><strong>Naruto<strong>

They were taking their sweet time in the forest surrounding the Frost. The head Frost Nin had seen Sakura head that way. Naruto rubbed his face with his hand and glanced around at his surroundings with blurry eyes. It had been a long day and he was already tired of chasing Sakura, who disappeared like a ghost. Not to mention, the hateful remarks from his companion were beginning to annoy him.

"Doesn't this annoy you?" He finally asked her after a while of walking in complete silence.

No answer.

"Day dreaming about me, Ayumi?" He asked her, deciding to have some fun annoying the hell out of her.

That brought her current train of thought to a halt. Her eyebrows pulled together in annoyance as her eyes narrowed.

"I don't know what your problem is, but I bet it's hard to pronounce." She told him, staring up at him as he laughed.

"Well then, sweetheart, it's a good thing you're not good with words." He smiled and jumped back to avoid a punch to the shoulder.

"What did you say?" She fumed.

Naruto raised his arms in surrender. "I'm not the one with anger issues."

"Oh, really?" She raised her eyebrow at him. "I'll show you anger issues." She threatened while gripping the hilt of her sword with her hand.

"Now, now, let's not get carried away." He reasoned before appearing behind her, his hand on hers stopping her from pulling the blade out. "I was only sent to kill one person, not two."

"Like you could lay a finger on me." She huffed like he was missing some inside joke before letting go of the hilt of her blade.

Naruto rolled his eyes and stared at the trees as they passed them by. He thought they must be in the middle of the forest by now. There was a small clearing ahead, where no trees grew.

She walked a few more paces in front of him before stopping abruptly at the edge of the clearing. Ayumi turned back around to face him.

"What do you plan to do after we catch this Sakura?" She asked, her eyebrow rose.

He stopped and glanced at the ground briefly. "You know.. I haven't really thought about it. I guess I'd just go back to doing the same old stuff. But I'd much rather still be here... with you." He muttered the last two words so low he wasn't even sure she heard him.

But to his upmost embarrassment her head tilted towards the ground as a small smile graced her lips. It was a sad/happy kind of smile. The kind of smile you expression when you say goodbye to someone you care for and know you would never see again.

"There is something I have been meaning to tell you." She said, concentrating very hard on something as she closed the distance between her and Naruto.

She was very close to him now. Mixed emotions crossed her face as she rested her hand on the shoulder of his flat jacket.

"And that is?" He asked, not taking his eyes off her.

He knew she was just messing around. She was most likely trying to get him back for his last attempts to play jokes on her or had some alternate reason so this could help make his life hell. Sure, they had a moment back at the ice-covered lake, but that was nothing. It was just an accident.

Her emotions always left him confused. One second she would be talking to him and joking around, the next moment she was serious and closed off. He knew she didn't like him. That had to be the reason she was on and off with him. But that didn't stop her from wrapping her arms around his neck and bending his head closer to hers. His mind exploded. What was she doing? Was she trying to manipulate him? Could she..? Would she..?

He felt her arms straighten out behind his neck as she pulled him closer to her. Her lips hovered close to his, not even a centimeter apart. He was no amateur. He had little to some experience with this kind of thing. But it never felt like this with Hinata. Their lips hadn't even touched and already an uncontainable excitement was building inside of him. He didn't trust his hands so he left them limp by his sides. She rose up on her toes so that their noses were touching. Her forehead was now resting against his as she let out a breath she had been holding in. One of her hands moved to cup his cheek. He couldn't focus on her eyes. They were too close. He wanted to. It would tell him everything she was thinking.

"Minato, I needed to tell you that I'm s-" She stopped and her arms tensed around his neck.

"I need to tell you that..." She said again and stopped as if deciding what she was going to say next. "We are being followed." Ayumi told him quietly before pulling back away from him and slipping something that was in her hand back into her vest pocket.

Only then did he feel the four signatures of chakra closing in on them. And like a switch the shinobi in him took control as his mind began to point out little facts about the intruders. At first, he thought it was another genin team but after speculation he realized these shinobi were much stronger. Naruto straightened his back and waited for the owners to arrive. Most likely these signatures belonged to rogues. In no time they appeared, spread out in an offensive position.

"Well, well. What do we have here?" One of the men questioned, smiling wickedly at the two jounin.

"A Mist ninja and Leaf ninja working together?" One of his followers questioned with fake surprise.

The four men stood side by side eyeing the two shinobi. The leader was bigger than all of the others put together, and by bigger he didn't mean fat or heavy. This man had a large frame and was inhumanly muscular. To match his large appearance he had a huge sword strapped to his back, which made him look even more menacing. His subordinates were just as fierce. One of them had already drawn his weapon. He was smaller than the rest but he seemed more serious. His weapons of choice were two long and narrow dual swords. This man frightened Naruto. The only reason being, his swords were covered in dried blood. The killing of a person wasn't what scared him; it was the fact that the man didn't bother to clean his weapons after. Naruto's eyes wandered to the man, farthest from his leader. This rogue had a single sword, a feudal sword to be exact. It was still in its hostler, the man's fingers hovered above it. He wore a sickening smile that told Naruto all this man wanted was their weapons and anything else he could get his hands on. The last rogue was average size. He was the only man out of the four who had a forehead protector. A single music note stood out on the metal with a line slashed through it, diagonally. His arms were crossed as he stared back at Naruto with concentration.

Naruto inclined his head over to his partner to judge her reaction of their unsuspected guests.

"Two for me, two for you." Ayumi whispered under her breath to Naruto.

Naruto smiled brightly and nodded at her. God, this girl could read his intentions like an open book. Then he stopped and really looked at her. What had happened two seconds ago? What was that? Naruto shook his head. _Stop it, Naruto. She is not interested in you. There had to be a reason. _He stopped the urge to snap his fingers. Of course! She felt the signatures before him and wanted to warn him. So instead of saying it out loud and losing the edge of surprise, she made it appear that they were kissing so she could tell him. Very split of the moment. He smiled slightly. She was a very dangerous shinobi, not to mention a good actress.

"Boss, maybe they're out here on their honeymoon." The one in the back laughed at his joke. The funny thing was, no one else laughed.

"The Mist Nin is mine." The leader barked, smiling at her, showing his yellowed teeth. "I've always wanted to kill one."

For some reason, unknown to him, Naruto had to resist the urge to move to stand in front of Ayumi. He acted on his feeling and he moved a step closer to her. She raised a questioning eyebrow at him but he only shook his head. Where did this protective urge come from?

"So what will it be, pretty boy?" The lead rouge asked, cracking his knuckles against his palm.

"Well, I guess we can take a break, Ayumi." He nodded to her, an unspoken conversation passing through their eyes. "Besides it won't be much of a challenge."

"Why you little-!" One of the rogues started, but he couldn't finish his sentence. He choked on the rest of the words.

Naruto grabbed a hold of his cloak and pulled it off of him. Tossing it on the ground away from the group of ninja, his eyes narrowed. The fabric would slow him down and he didn't want to risk it getting torn.

He could barley hear the four rogues as one whispered to the leader, "Boss you take on the girl, we'll handle pretty boy."

Naruto smiled slightly. This was the worst situation to be sexist in. They were in for a run for their money. Ayumi would completely destroy the leader.

He turned to her to see if she heard them, but she was already giving him a look.

"Don't hurt yourself." She said sarcastically with a wink, turning to face the rogues again.

_Who did she think she was?_ He fumed.

His thoughts were cut off when the rogues launched themselves at Ayumi and him. Jumping back to avoid a swipe of the feudal rogue's weapon, he pulled out a kunai. A loud scraping noise filled the air as metal contacted metal. He tried to watch Ayumi's fight, but the three rogues were not giving him any breathing room.

"Kage Bushin No Jutsu!" He shouted, making the hand signs as a clone appeared on either side of him.

At the same time his clones and him charged forward to the three rogues. He decided it would be in his best interest if he used as less chakra as he could manage. Which of course meant no high level ninjutsu. So he decided to participate in close combat. Replacing his kunai he reached back grabbing a hold of his katana and brought it out in front of him while his clones mirrored his movements. Jumping into the air, he sliced the kunai out off the ex-sound man's hand. Before the man could even react, he shoved the blade of his katana deep into the man's heart. Meeting no resistance, the blade continued until it shot out his back. The ex-sound Nin coughed up blood to the side of Naruto as Naruto pushed the blade in until the hilt met skin. Naruto was now supporting the dying weight of the man. _Hah. Dead weight, get it?_ Naruto sighed in annoyance at his brain and concentrated back on the fight. Sensing a presence behind him, Naruto ripped the blade back out and brought the sword up to block the feudal swordsman from crashing his stolen blade down on his head. Glancing around quickly Naruto noted that both clones had already dispersed. _Damnit. This will be a challenge...hardly._ Pushing his blade against the rogue's, the metal of his katana slid off, no longer trapped under the feudal sword. Using his foot, he kicked the man down onto his back. With two hands wrapped around the sword's hilt he brought his katana down on the other man who survived his clone. This man was the two dual swords freak. The rogue's bloody blades formed an 'x' as he blocked Naruto's katana from going any further. Putting pressure down on the dual swords he glanced over at Ayumi.

She had managed to cut the leader up pretty bad. His clothes were blood soaked as he charged at her again, his massive sword raised. He saw the man he kicked down earlier running over to help his boss, but Naruto was not about to let him. Letting go of the sword with one of his hands, Naruto pulled a kunai out of his pouched and threw it at the man's back. Hitting it's mark, the feudal man tumbled over at Ayumi's feet. She merely glanced at Naruto and mouthed the words, 'Concentrate on your fight.'

He turned back to the man pinned under the force of his katana. The rogue was struggling. His arms were shaking violently as Naruto put both hands on the hilt of the blade. Naruto watched as the muscles on his shoulders and arms bunch up as the man used all his strength to resist the blade. _Now!_ His mind yelled at him as Naruto pulled his weapon out of the man's scissor lock. The rogue's dual blades, no longer under pressure, scraped past each other. The man's arms were up in a touchdown position from the force he put on both his weapons.

Naruto smiled, knowing this is the position he wanted the man in. Shifting his katana into his left hand Naruto rotated on his foot and grabbed the rogue's left hand that was clasped around his blade. Guiding the rogue's own weapon against him, Naruto plunged the blade into the man's stomach. In a last attempt to save himself, the man brought his other sword down, but it was met halfway by Naruto's katana.

"Game over." He muttered to the rogue as his eyes rolled back into his head.

Letting go of the man's clasped hand, Naruto watched him fall backwards. From this position the man appeared to have killed himself with his own blade. He shook his head, tearing his eyes away from the man. It was just another move he learned from assassinations.

To say he wasn't a little bit tired would be a lie. He turned to watch Ayumi's fight. It appeared he had it easy. The leader of the rogues had some skill left. He must have been a jounin before he left his village or something. He was considering on helping her but he knew she'd be pissed if he even dared to. Instead, he stabbed his weapon into the ground and pulled it back out. The blood was no longer on his weapon as he returned it to his back. Naruto returned his gaze back to the fighting before him.

At that second, Naruto noticed the leader running at Ayumi forming complicated hand signs. But unknown to her, a man he had thought was dead had returned to his feet. It was the man who had run to help his boss from earlier. But something was different about him. His arms were coated in paper bombs while he raised his kunai in his right hand. The man smiled wickedly, staring down at the Mist Nin. Pushing off the tree where he stood, he raised his finger of his left hand to his lips.

Dread and realization rained down on him like a shower. The rogue was going to activate the bombs once he was close enough to her, he thought in horror. It was a suicidal attack. She would be distracted while the one behind her would make the kill.

Pushing off his legs, Naruto ran to intercept the man. He had no time to make a Kage Bushin to help. Hell, his only thought was to save her. He didn't know how this would end, all he knew was he was going to stop it somehow. Naruto landed right behind Ayumi, just before the suicidal man did. Putting his left forearm up to block the weapon, he felt the man's kunai embed it's self into his flesh. But at the same time Naruto used his right hand to form a Rasengan. His no high level jutsu plan was gone and now so would be this rogue.

The rogue's eyes narrowed as he realized the man in front of him screwed his plan up. Once noticing Naruto's jutsu, he attempted to jump back away from Naruto. But he was too late. Moving his right hand up, Naruto shoved the spiraling ball of chakra into the rogue's stomach. The feudal rogue's eyes went wide open as the jutsu shoved him backwards but as he began to fly into the air he muttered a few words, activating the paper bombs. Naruto didn't think, he just let his body act. Releasing the hold on the ball of chakra, he spun on his heel to grab Ayumi into his arms as the explosion went off. With his last thought, he pushed off on his foot as the explosion threw both of them into the air. The bits of fire and gust of wind that came with it caused him to land sideways into a tree, Ayumi still firmly in his arms. It seemed his back would provide the only protection. The tree broke on impact as they both tumbled towards the ground. Still, the force of the impact wasn't enough to slow them down as Ayumi and him were thrown across the ground. He landed on his back, spraying dirt everywhere. Once they stopped sliding he let go of her, but stayed on the ground. He wasn't dead, thank God, but he wasn't sure of the damage his stunt caused. There was a dull pain on his back and another one creeping up on his arm.

He watched Ayumi push herself into a standing position. Turning to him he saw the anger clearly written across her face, "You idiot!" She screamed. "I had him!"

"No. You didn't. That guy was behind you and-!" She cut him off.

"I know! I was only feigning that I was unaware! Then you had to show up and mess everything up!" She screamed at him.

Only faking? Shit, so she really wasn't in trouble? God, Naruto, always rushing into things.

"Do you even think before you act?" She asked, still yelling at him.

"I didn't know. I just saw you there! I wasn't going to sit back and just watch! That's not me!" He retaliated, but hissed in pain when he realized his back was indeed hit by the explosion and the tree really did not help. Not to mention the wound the kunai left in his arm.

It was then he noticed something on her face that he hadn't seen before. Aside from the anger etched into her face, he saw the worry hidden deep behind her eyes. But as soon as he caught it, it disappeared and anger took its place again.

"Your idiocy could have gotten us both killed." She stated, no longer yelling.

"Are you alright?" He asked, trying to divert the conversation.

"Yes, I'm fine." She said sounding confused.

"Good." He simply replied, pushing himself into a sitting position, ignoring the dull ache of pain. "See? You didn't get killed or hurt. Everything is fine."

"Yea but-" She stopped herself and switched to a different choice of sentence, "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine."

"Really? Then stand up." She said crossing her arms.

"Fine, I will." He smiled. In order to not look weak, he rose to his feet. The movement not only hurt like hell but he stumbled and grabbed onto the bark of a tree for support. Great. Now she knew.

* * *

><p><strong>Sakura<strong>

Sakura's eyes widened. "Please tell me you at least jumped out of the way before the explosion went off!"

"There wasn't enough time.." He trailed off as he noticed her approach.

"Turn around."

Minato did as he was told and turned his back towards her. Sakura gasped.

_That bloody idiot.._

She was silent as she stared at his back for a few seconds.

"What?" Minato asked.

"Were you born a complete idiot or have you mastered some rare, unknown art?."

"Yea, because being an idiot is why I managed to kill three rogues in a less amount of time than it took you to kill one."

Sakura took a deep breath to control herself. "And that's why one of the rogues you supposedly 'killed' was able enough to aid his leader in killing me."

Minato didn't speak for several seconds. _That asshole better not have a retort. _

"How bad is it?" He asked, finally, trying to look over his shoulder.

"I won't know until I take off the remains of your shirt and jacket," She stated.

"Until _you_ take off my shirt and jacket? Did I hear you right?" Sakura could practically hear the smirk in his voice.

"I said you. Stop imagining things."

Lucky for him, he kept his mouth shut after that.

He unzipped the jacket from the front and let it drop to the ground. Afterward, he carefully slipped off the remnants of his shirt.

"It's a good thing you jumped when you did, other wise the most elite medic Nin wouldn't even be able to heal your skin completely." She took a couple more steps toward him to get a better look at the damage.

"How do you know so much?" He grunted, relaxing his shoulders.

"I know some medical ninjutsu." She said, examining his back.

"Anything else you're keeping from me?" He asked sounding annoyed.

"I didn't realize I was supposed to tell you my life story," Sakura responded. "I can easily fix you up. Were you hurt anywhere else?"

"Yea, my forearm."

"What happened?" She sighed.

"Kunai went through it." He said simply.

"Of course it did." She said.

"Are you going to help me or not?" Minato sighed.

"Just thought I'd give you a little hell first." She lifted her arms and placed them an inch from his back letting the green light envelope her hands. "You may feel a slight tingle." Ayumi said, skillfully letting her hands travel around his back.

"Nothing I can't hand-! Ouch damnit! What the hell are you doing?" He yelped. "I thought you said a tingle!"

"Stop being a baby." She told him, concentrating on the wound but decided to be gentler with her ninjutsu.

"I would if you weren't peeling my skin off!" He argued, but his breathing became slower.

"There, all done. Now let me see your forearm." She said with authority.

He turned around to face her.

Sakura allowed her self a small smile at his childish complaints. She gently cradled his arm in one of her hands.

"The kunai missed the tendons between your two bones on your forearm. It seemed to have hit your radius and the bone stopped it from going any deeper."

"How strange." She observed.

"What?" He asked looking down at his arm.

"Your skin..." She trailed off. "It was already healing before I touched it."

His face remained impassive.

He shrugged casually, "It's just a jutsu the Hokage put on me. Said I was always getting hurt."

_So I was right… He doesn't know that I know he's a jinchuriki. This could be to my advantage._

"Huh…" _He doesn't need to know._

He nodded and made a move to pick his vest up off the ground.

"What happened to the leader?" He asked picking up his cloak he had tossed on the ground before the fight. It was still in perfect condition, unlike his jounin jacket.

"Incinerated." Sakura replied, motioning her head towards the black pit in the middle of the forest.

"That's the first good news." He laughed. "Hey, by any chance would you like to go back to the hotel and get in one of those hot springs? Because I don't know about you but, it's getting late and I'm freezing my ass off."

She took a quick glance at Minato before saying, "I guess it couldn't hurt.." _It couldn't hurt getting a closer look at that body. _He was already sprinting back to the hotel.

"Minato! You are going to tear open your wounds again!" She called out after him.

"It won't matter because I get first dibs on the hot springs!" He called out laughing.

_I guess he doesn't know the springs aren't separated according to your sex. _Sakura smirked. _It's a shame you're not allowed to be completely naked. _After her thought, she took off after Minato.

_Ya know, now that I think about it, his name does sound kind of familiar.. Maybe a guy in my village has the same name. That has to be it. I've never met him before, I definitely would've remembered him._

When Sakura and Minato finally found their way to the Frost gates, they slowed to a walk.

Minato turned to face her, "Do you want to go straight there?"

"No, I figured we'd take a detour through the Earth country, down to Wind country and up back through the Fire country before finally going to the hot springs." Sakura rolled her eyes.

"Excuse me for offering to give you a moment to yourself."

Sakura felt instantly guilty. He sounded sincere.

Minato shrugged. "Ya know, I'm trying to imagine you with a personality. But that's okay. I can be a sarcastic bitch too."

Sakura decided it was best to keep her mouth shut. She was gonna have to find a way to be a decent person. It's just that, she was scared to let anybody get to close to her. And letting herself open up to Minato is just going to make it harder to kill him. _No, it's best to just be isolated._

When they reached the front of the hot springs they stopped.

"Uni-sex? What the hell? Is that even legal? I thought I was going to be alone!"

"Love you too," Sakura muttered as she walked in. "Look the changing rooms are separate. Go be alone in there."

Minato turned and walked away from Sakura as she walked into the girls' changing room. She walked over and looked in a mirror. Sakura almost recoiled at the sight of the bags under her eyes.

_Surely they weren't this bad yesterday.. Maybe the hot water will work wonders. _

Sakura walked over and sat on one of the benches and placed her face in her hands.

_Why do I have to be the one to do this? He's the first decent guy I've met in… forever and I have to eliminate him. _

Sakura took a deep breath. _I am so sick of this killing.. When I get back to the Mist.. I'm telling Mei I can no longer be her assassin.. Why would anybody put someone through this kind of torture..? Doesn't anybody know how we feel? _

Sakura stood up and threw the bench across the room.

"Why ME?" She shouted. "I didn't ask for this!"

Sakura felt something cold slide down her cheek and she lifted her hand to feel it. It was wet. She put her finger in front of her eyes and examined it. What she saw startled her.

_A t-tear..? I haven't cried since… I can't even remember.. _

The same sensation was on her face again. She turned to face the mirror. Several tears were rolling down her cheeks.

_I'm c-crying.. I'm actually crying. _

Sakura slowly sat on the ground and allowed all of her frustrations and worries flow out of her eyes. It felt good to just let go. She couldn't remember the last time she let everything out of her system.

After a good 5 minutes, she finally lifted herself off the floor. She quickly stripped down to her bra and panties and covered herself with a towel. She wiped her eyes with her hands and walked out of the room.

"It's about time you got out here. I thought you had died." Sakura looked across the spring to find Minato sitting in the water with his arms stretched out behind him on the ledge of the spring with his eyes closed.

Sakura's demeanor quickly relaxed upon seeing Minato. "How'd you know it was me?"

Minato shrugged. "Mother's intuition."

Sakura burst out laughing as she walked over to the edge of the water. "Ya know that was actually funny."

Minato cracked open one of his eyes. "I'm sorry, did you just laugh?"

Sakura's giggles came to a cease. "Well if you're gonna be like that, then no, I didn't laugh," she said as she let the towel drop to the ground.

She could've sworn Minato's eyes widened a fraction of an inch but she could've be sure. The sun had already sunk behind the roof of the building to her back so the lighting wasn't the best.

She slowly stepped into the water and let herself sink until she was sitting down.

The water felt amazing against her body. She resisted a moan, not wanting to attract Minato's attention to her.

"Why don't we play a game?" Minato asked.

"What kind of game?"

"What about truth or truth? My friends and I sometimes play it on missions. We eliminated the dare part because we're always too tired to move from our position when we camp for the night."

Sakura shrugged. "Sure, why not. Me first. What was it like growing up?"

"I thought I told you I had no parents."

"Precisely."

Minato narrowed his eyes at her. "Alright then. Growing up was horrible. End of story." He gave her a look that told her there was no way he was going to elaborate.

Sakura offered a small smile. "I won't ask you any more questions pertaining to that subject. I'm sorry."

"I didn't realize you actually had compassion. Actually, it seems there are a lot of things I don't know about you. Like that medical ninjutsu stunt? When were you, if at all, going to tell me about that?"

"Is that your question? Or would you like to ask a different one before I decide to answer it?"

Minato was thoughtful for a moment. "Fine. When did you first learn medical ninjutsu?"

"That's a better question. Um, I learned when I was about 15. The head of our hospital decided that I was the one that he should lend his skills down to. However, I've heard of your Hokage's legendary skills and he doesn't even compare to her. But I trained myself after he taught me everything he knew. I studied every single scroll and if I do say so myself, I think I surpassed him by the time I was 20."

"That early? The head of your hospital? That's impressive. Now ask me a question, shoot."

"Okay, hmm. What is your dream?"

Minato chuckled. "If you lived in the Leaf, you would looked at as if you were stupid if you asked that question out loud."

"Well are you going to answer me or not?"

"I was getting there. My dream is to become Hokage."

Sakura smiled. "I think you'd make a great Hokage." She got up and began making her way to sit next to Minato."

He watched her with wide eyes. "Nobody has ever told me that before."

_Control yourself Sakura! _"Well I mean it." She shrugged.

"My turn." Minato looked at her. "Have you ever been kissed?"

Sakura looked down at the water. "Well… No. No, I haven't.." She looked away embarrassed.

"Would you like to be kissed?"

Sakura's head snapped up as she looked at him. "What?"

"Would you like to be kissed?" He repeated as Sakura recomposed herself.

"That was two questions," Sakura poked Minato on the shoulder.

"This is an exception." Minato grinned.

"And who is supposed to kiss me? I don't see anybody in this hot spring who's kissable."

Sakura felt Minato grip her chin and make her look at him. "Well in that case, I think you might be blind." Minato leaned in and gently placed his lips on Sakura's then pulled away. "How was that?"

Sakura leaned back in and captured his lips with hers. She could feel him chuckle in the back of his throat. Finding her bravery, Sakura wrapped her arms around Minato's neck to pull him close to her. She felt his hands grip her waist to move her closer. Minato licked the bottom of her lip, which made Sakura have to repress a shiver. As Sakura pulled away she kept Minato's bottom lip between her teeth. When his lip was free she whispered, "That was amazing."

She let herself relish the moment before quickly pulling her arms back to her own body. _Sakura, what have you done!_

"I, uh, think I need to go to bed. I'm a little tired." She immediately got out of the hot spring and almost ran to the building. _Sakura, you have just committed an assassin's number one mistake. Never fall in love with your target._

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><p><strong><em><em>Well we hope you enjoyed the 5th chapter! Please review and tell us what you think.**

**Yes, I know there were many grammatical mistakes, so please do not review about that.**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: This is chapter 6. Sorry if the update is a little late. **

**We, Newyear's Tragedy and I, feel this chapter is a very important transition in the story. Hopefully, you'll feel the same way. Enjoy :)**

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><p><strong>Sakura<strong>

If Sakura wasn't running, then she was walking the fastest a human being was capable of. She had no idea how she let herself open up so much as to _kiss_ Minato, the man she's trying to kill!

_Sakura, what have you done? I've allowed the forbidden to happen. How can I even call myself a master assassin after this mission is over? I can't tell Lady Mei or she'll never truly trust me again. What do I do..? _

Sakura continued walking toward the hotel. As soon as she reached it, she flew up the stairs and through the hallway to her room in record time. As soon as the door was closed, she went and stood in front of the mirror. She was disgusted with herself. She had never made so grave a mistake.

Sakura shouted as she punched the mirror. The glass shards fell to the floor in a slow motion. Tears began to stream down her face for the second time tonight.

She couldn't keep her thoughts from reaching her voice, getting more hysterical after every thought. "Why me..? Why did she have to choose _me _for this mission? Surely, there's someone that could've killed him by now.. No, of course not. I am the Mist's best assassin and Lady Mei knows it. But why Minato.. He, he's funny, smart- sometimes, handsome, caring…" She paused before yelling, "WHY DID I HAVE TO FALL IN LOVE WITH HIM?" While screaming her last thought, she picked up the lamp on her bedside table and threw it at the wall.

Sakura's whole body was shaking while she sank to the floor. Her face found its way to her hands as she continually wept.

She cried for almost an hour. She didn't even stop when Minato knocked on her door and asked if she was all right. In fact, that only made the crying stronger.

When her eyes were finally dry and not another single tear could be formed, Sakura stood up and faced her broken mirror. Sakura felt vulnerable, weak.

_What am I supposed to do..? _

Sakura knew, of course, exactly what she had to do. She just didn't want to admit it to herself, but it was the only way.

"I have to kill Minato. Tomorrow." Sakura continued to stare at the broken mirror as she raised her chin and fixed her posture.

_There. That's the Sakura I know. _Now, she looked proud and strong; the way she usually does.

Sakura turned away from the mirror to go and sit on the bed. She reached over and grabbed her pack off of the floor.

_How many senbon do I have left? _She searched around her bag until she found what she was looking for. _Only 5.. That's definitely not enough. I'll have to pick up some more tonight rather than in the morning. I'll draw less suspicion from him that way. But how many should I get? 200..? I think that will be sufficient. _

_Now… What poison should I use? It has to be one that he, or the Leaf, is not familiar with. I could use a poison known only to the Mist. Now that leaves 5 that will do the job. However, only one of those will kill fast, Henshi Strychnine. And it happens to be the only one I brought. The original poison, Strychnine, was altered to become a special Mist poison. Once the poison has killed its host, it destroys itself making it look like an accidental death, hence the name Henshi. It causes extreme pain until it reaches the heart.. But I would really it rather not cause him any pain.. _

Sakura shook her head._ Concentrate Sakura. _She took a deep breath._ Okay, this poison, when injected into the blood stream, flows quickly throughout the whole body shutting down the central nervous system first then moving on to the organs, which shut down one minute after the poison makes contact with them, saving the heart for last. I'll just have to hope the poison works faster than his tailed beast does. That will be my major obstacle. If worst comes to worst, he will definitely pass out. I can always result to using a kunai if necessary. Now… how will I put him in a situation to be hit with a poisoned senbon? I do have 'Sakura' to use at my disposal. That'll definitely work. She could lure him out to a clearing, just a small circle with a 5-foot radius. He will be too focused on catching her to notice an amateur trip wire circling the clearing. As soon as he activates it, a blazing fire, ignited by paper bombs, will encircle the small space. And then I'll have other paper seals, sealed with the poison senbon, scattered across the trees but hidden from view, activated to shoot at him. No doubt at least one of them will hit him and then the poison will do its job. If somehow I find him alive but still unconscious after the fire dies down, I will simply slit his throat. _

Sakura breathed out a sigh of relief. "There. See, Sakura. Your brilliant plans always shine through when you're in need of them. I'll pick up the senbon and set up my trap tonight. He is probably asleep already so this will be perfect. He will have no suspicions of me." Sakura laid back on her bed and stared at the ceiling for a few minutes.

When her pulse was calm and she was confident she could flawlessly carry out her plan, she grabbed her bag, slung it over her shoulder and walked out the door. She paused for a split second to glance at Minato's door and then she continued down the hallway.

Sakura awoke to the dim sunlight streaming through her window. Her first thought was, _Beautiful morning. _Her second, _Today is the end. _She sighed and got out of bed. Three knocks sounded at her door.

"Coming!" She shouted.

Sakura opened her door to reveal Minato, completely dressed, ready and smiling. "Today is the day," he stated proudly.

"You're telling me.." Sakura responded as she made her way back into the room, searching for her clothes.

"What? No good morning? No how did you sleep? Well, I feel special." Minato sounded sincerely hurt behind his joking demeanor.

Which only made it that much harder. "Get out. I'm trying to get dressed here," Sakura said, trying to sound rude. It killed her.

From the corner of her eye she could see Minato slightly recoil, but he was gone in the next second. _Sakura, you have a duty to your village. You can't back out now because of one Leaf shinobi. _She took a deep breath to right herself again.

Sakura began traveling around the room, changing into her clothes as she reached them. As she was moving, she was going down her mental checklist making sure all of her preparations the night before had been perfect and there were no holes in her plan.

Sakura had first set out for an herb shop to pick up the ingredients for the poison, which luckily hadn't taken long to make when she got back to the hotel. Next she had gone to a weapons shop. She had to convince the owner to let her in to buy the senbon she needed, seeing as though she had showed up after they had closed. With a wink and small flirting here and there, he obliged. Finally she sought out the clearing. When she found it, she encountered a problem. The snow. To start the fire she needed, there couldn't be any snow. It could either dim the fire, making it easy to escape, or completely put it out. Neither of which could happen for her plan to succeed. She spent an hour clearing away just enough snow to make nothing look suspicious but would also acquire her desired results. The next 30 or so minutes were used to place the trip wire, place the paper seals that would ignite the fire when the trip wire was activated, and place the paper seals that hid her poisoned senbon. Another 20 minutes was spent to conceal the paper seals. He could not be allowed to see them in advance. When she was done, she had stopped to admire her handy work. She remembered thinking, _No wonder I'm the most successful assassin in my village._ She wasn't one to be vain, but she let herself have the compliment. Sakura had finally made it back to the hotel by 1 in the morning.

It took her all of ten minutes to get ready. She checked her pack before exiting her room.

She was about to knock on Minato's door when she looked down to see him sitting against the wall next to her door. "Let's go," she said as she made her way down the hall.

Sakura had made 'Sakura' last night so she wouldn't spend unnecessary time getting ready this morning, in case Minato decided to become suspicious.

_Minato_.. A name so unique but familiar at the same time. Why did that name ring a bell? There was no one in her village by that name. Maybe someone from the Leaf she had known before she left? Maybe her parents had used the name in one of her bed time stories. _Yes._ In fact she remembered a specific story that involved the Leaf's Hokage.

They date the story to a few months after her birth. The wife of the Hokage at that time, Minato, was to have a baby. But for some reason, the birth had to be held in a secret place. Somehow, a very powerful ninja had disrupted events as soon as she had given birth and threatened to kidnap the baby, which was the night that the nine tails attacked. In a last attempt to save their son, Minato and his wife sacrificed their lives for their son, who is supposedly alive today.

_But now that I actually think about it, that story has to be true, because the Hokage _did_ die fighting to save the village from the nine tails._ When Sakura was very young, her mother told her the story for the first time. She never gave any new details. Maybe it was because she felt like she would betray the Leaf, or she felt Sakura wasn't in need of the information. Sakura wasn't sure. She had never really given it any extra thought. Why should she? She was too focused on learning the history of her new home village. The Leaf's didn't matter. But now, obviously it did.

_What was it that I remember hearing about the Leaf's jinchuriki? I overheard some other ninja talking about it.. They had said that a baby that had been born the night of the Leaf's major attack had the nine tails sealed inside of him, which is obviously Minato… Ah-ha. So 'Minato' is obviously not his real name. _

Sakura took a second to glance at Minato, or whatever his name is. _So he came up with a fake name too.. What would make him want to choose Minato? Surely, I've heard his real name mentioned before.. I mean he's the Leaf's jinchuriki! Did those ninja mention him too..? Maybe it started with an N? That rings a bell.. It feels like it's on the tip of my tongue! I call myself a master assassin and I can't even remember details about my home village. At least I came to one realization. _

By the end of her thoughts Sakura and Minato found themselves at the village gates. They continued walking deeper into the forest.

"You've been really quiet. Is something bothering you?" Minato sounded sincere. _Oh, why does this have to be so hard.._

Sakura took a deep breath. "Bite me."

Minato's eyes widened and then narrowed. His nice, calming demeanor vanished. Sakura's stomach sank.

"Ya know, I'm trying to see things from your point of view but I just can't seem to get my head that far up my ass."

Sakura could've sworn her heart stopped beating for a second. _This must've been what he felt like this morning and just a few seconds ago.. _"Why don't you slip into something more comfortable, like a coma?"

Minato suddenly stopped walking. "Stop. Listen. I think I just heard a rustling. Maybe it's Sakura!" He became excited again.

"Shock me; say something intelligent." Sakura pretended to roll her eyes.

"No! I swear I just saw blonde hair!"

"Well good for you! Go chase it! Why are you still standing there?"

Minato took off at a sprint, Sakura following closely after.

_Good job 'Sakura'. _

"HA! I saw her! Woohoo!"

"If you keep yelling like that, she's going to be gone before you blink again."

**Naruto**

He took off in a sprint towards Sakura. His smiling grin suddenly turning into a frown as followed her. She had evaded him long enough and today was going to be the day he finally caught her and ended his mission. Ayumi was following at a distance. He assumed it was because she was more cautious of the foe ahead.

The figure he was following blurred as she kick up snow in the air when she ran. He wiped his watering eyes and continued his pursuit, determined not to let her slip from his grasp again. Sakura took a sharp left into a small clearing. He followed suit as he threw up snow when he changed direction. He stopped when his target did, his cloak fluttering to the side as he glared at her.

"Finally decided to stand and fight, huh?" He called out.

"Oh, please, Leaf shinobi, you would hardly be a challenge," she spoke for the first time, her voice harsh and oddly familiar.

"You wanna bet?" Naruto reached behind him, his hand hovering over his weapons' pouch.

The blonde girl stood smirking at him in the clearing, her hand gripping the hilt of her sword as he approached her slowly. When he neared the edge of the clearing, she tucked tail and ran again. Frustrated, Naruto leaped into a run again after her.

"Pay up!" Sakura joked with a sickening smile on her face as she stood on the other side of the clearing. "You lose."

That was when he felt his ankle snag on something. Naruto stopped at once and looked about him with surprise.

It happened all at once. The line of string that snagged him broke in two as a heated fire surrounded the clearing, the flames trapping him in a small circle. Sakura stood facing him on the other side of the inferno with a smirk plastered to her face. The flicking flames only added to her sinister expression. Whistling filled the air as hundreds of senbon rained down on him, seemingly out of nowhere. His eyes moved side to side as he surveyed the threat and their points of impact, all of which were aimed at main arteries and limbs. His lips pulled back into a straight line as he ground his teeth together in concentration. He knew why she did this. The small circle of fire prevented him from dodging or even moving for that fact. No matter what he did, he would be hit.

Naruto quickly drew his katana, swinging the blade around trying to block the needles. Metal bounced of his sword as he brought his katana up to stop a senbon from imbedding itself in his face. But no matter how fast he swung his sword, he knew he could not get them all. It was a thin blade he was working with. The little pinpricks hit the metal of his katana when he blocked them from hitting their mark on the main artery in the back of his knee. Pain exploded in his forearms as senbon succeed and made it through his defenses. A needle slipped off the edge of his blade and ricocheted into his shoulder. Everything was in slow motion as he adjusted his body to the right to avoid two senbon to the heart. But to those watching, he imagined he looked like a blur. The ground was covered in long needles. It was a sea of thin metal. He rotated his katana to the side to block a stray senbon aimed for his side and brought the weapon up again in a ready position. Naruto glanced upward seeing that the assault had stopped.

"How did I miss the trip wire...?" He muttered angrily at his own foolish stupidity.

His heart was already beating widely. Suddenly he felt great pain hit his heart as it rose. His eyes bulged, as a burning pain became known in his arms. He felt his katana slip through his open fingers as his body became horribly weak. Naruto's eyesight blurred as he dropped to one knee in the fallen senbon trying to remain awake. Each beat of his heart brought another dose of heavy burning inside of him, like a raging inferno was flowing through his veins.

"W-what is h-happening to me..?" Naruto struggled to say, his jaw clutching tightly in pain.

Naruto placed his hand on the dirt trying to keep his body up. He looked down at the sharp pieces of metal and noticed their tips were either green or purple. His eyes turned to look at his forearm with senbon sticking sickly out of his flesh.

"Shit. Poison.." He observed, staring at his forearm.

His body leaned forward and he caught himself from falling over. Every second, the poison was being pumped closer and closer to his heart and brain.

"Damnit. My rash d-decisions are actually going to k-kill me this time," he managed out before he couldn't focus anymore, his words already slurred.

Naruto felt himself fall over onto his side, throwing the metal up in the air slightly when he landed on the scattered senbon. He watched the fire that surrounded him and saw Ayumi on the other side. She attempted to push through the fire, but it flared up and she had to retreat. It was then he realized the fire wasn't to keep him in, but to also keep her out so she couldn't help him. He wondered if Sakura had already made a run for it, pleased with her work.

"Kid." A deep voice growled from deep within his subconscious. "You are going to die if you don't remove the poison."

Naruto smiled slightly, "No shit."

The fox ignored his comment. "Use your katana to cut open your forearms and any where else you were hit. You have to bleed out the poisoned blood before it gets to your heart."

"Won't I just bleed out after that..?" Naruto commented, pushing himself up a little but still down.

"My chakra can help heal your wounds, but I can't help if I'm going to be trapping the poison inside of you." The Fox informed him. "Hurry. Soon you will lose the function of your arms."

This poison was having such a weird effect on him. For some reason, he didn't want to get up and save himself. Hell, didn't he deserve it? How many people has he killed this way? Naruto mentally shook his head, while he battled with his conscious. He was delirious. The poison was confusing him.

"Naruto. You sitting by and doing nothing is helping the poison flow. Get UP!" The Fox was becoming impatient and more irritated that Naruto was endangering the Fox's life.

Naruto finally did push his body up in a sitting position. His senbon filled forearm draped over his bent knee. He reached over to grab his fallen weapon and tried to control his shaking hand. His fingers wrapped around the hilt of the blade. His eyelids droopy, Naruto dragged the blade across the dirt and scattered metal. Concentrating, he held out his left forearm. Using the blade, he cut open his black undershirt to see the damage. Naruto could see how far the poison had traveled in his bloodstream by the dark areas in the vein. Grinding his teeth together, he pointed the blade down at his arm.

"The.." He stopped, his mind still fogged over. "The poison is in the main vein.." He struggled to stay focused. "...if I cut it, not even you, can put it back together." Naruto said out into the air to the Fox.

"Your survival chances are better if you cut it. I'll seal the opening of your skin. It's better to bleed inside of yourself than outside. You will lose the feeling in your arms, however, because of the loss of blood. You know some medical ninjutsu, hmm? But if you're not confident, your companion appears to be a medical Nin, maybe she can do the rest." The Fox growled.

Naruto gazed back down at his left forearm. Three senbon stuck out on top of his arm as he flipped it over to see the vein on his under arm. He positioned the blade above the end of the poison and the blood that was not infected yet. Sighing and relaxing his body, he stabbed the weapon in his forearm and drew it down quickly. Almost immediantly blood sprayed from his forearm as he held his arm out and away from himself. With his right hand still holding his katana, he pulled out each senbon on his left arm. The metal made a sharp sound as he dropped them on the ground hitting the other needles. A pool of blood had form from his bleeding arm, the feeling slowly going away. Naruto pulled his injured up arm to see if it was almost over. Some poison was still near the base of his wrist so Naruto used his thumb to push it towards the opening. Total feeling in his arm was gone as the remains of the poisoned blood left his body. Dropping his katana, he placed his hand over the opening of his wound.

"The poison is out, Fox."

He kept his hand positioned over the wound trying to keep the good blood in. Feeling slightly better, his mind began to wrap around how crazy this was.

Naruto felt the tickling sensation as his skin sewed itself together. Soon, however, he felt nothing at all for feeling disappeared in his arm. He removed his hand to stare at his now unharmed forearm. Naruto began to search the rest of his body for senbon. He spotted one from his shoulder where it ricocheted. He moved his blade up to point at the wound but then stopped and lowered his weapon.

"Fox, I can't see the vein much yet feel my fingers holding the sword." Naruto commented his mind clouding up again.

"Must I do everything for you? You got some chakra left, yes? Make a shadow clone to do it for you. Hurry, your body is reacting to the blood loss by pumping blood faster trying to make more. The faster it pumps the faster the poison spreads." The deep voice growled before going dormant.

"Not my fault I can't...can't...focus. Yea, that's the word." Naruto corrected himself drowsily.

With his own good hand, Naruto performed his shadow clone technique forming a single replica of him. The clone appeared, its face held a serious expression as it bent over to take the katana from Naruto. Wasting no time, the clone grabbed a hold of the black jumpsuit material and ripped it apart to show his skin on his shoulder. Naruto felt the clone pull the senbon from his shoulder and toss the needle to the ground. He then felt the cool metal press against his bare skin.

"Three… two... one." The clone read out to him before sliding the weapon down his skin.

Naruto felt his back and what was left of his black under shirt become wet and sticky with his blood. After only a moment, two hands pressed themselves on his wound. Unable to hold the clone anymore due to his bleeding out, it dispersed as Naruto took over, his right hand holding his bleeding shoulder. The Fox repeated its actions and began to close up his self inflected wound.

"I'm going to pass out, aren't I?" Naruto observed the edges around his vision already blackening.

The Fox didn't answer. Naruto took that as a sign that he was done talking to him. Glancing around at the scene before him, Naruto picked up one of the senbon that didn't find its mark. He turned the needle around in his index finger and thumb, analyzing it. The tip was a light purple with green dots about it inside the liquid. His eyebrows pulled together in deep thought. Some part of his brain was remembering something about this liquid but the fog was clouding it. After another minute, when he felt his vision darken even more, the memory came to him..

_Naruto grabbed a hold of the rogue's wrist and pinned it behind his spine as he slammed the rogue to the ground. The man grunted in pain but his lopsided smile remained on his face. _

_"What the hell have you done to my teammate?" Naruto yelled in anger, glaring down at the man. _

_The rogue smiled innocently. "He's a goner. Might try looking for a new teammate, Leaf shinobi." _

_Naruto glanced back over at his fallen teammate, a kunai sticking out the back of his neck. The Leaf Nin was unconscious, his hand still clasped around the kunai in his neck. Purple liquid and green dots covered the blade of the weapon in his teammate's neck. Blood was seeping from his mouth, his body limp. Naruto fumed just looking at his partner. The blonde haired jounin removed his katana and placed the blade under the man's throat. _

_"What was on that kunai? Last chance before I cover this floor with your blood!" Naruto snarled. _

_"Poison." He said simply, a smirk forming along his lips. _

_Naruto pulled the blade higher to the side of his neck and pressed down drawing blood. _

_"You are fucking with the wrong person." Naruto caution him. "What was in that poison?"_

_The rogue struggled slightly form under Naruto. "My Village's specialty and only used by my home town." He stopped then turned his head to gazed at Naruto. "You can't kill me, Leaf shinobi. If you do you will never know the cure for your friend." He taunted Naruto. _

_Naruto's tense muscles relaxed as a small smile formed across his face. "Watch me.." He whispered to the rogue. _

_The rogue's eyes widened just as Naruto put extreme pressure on the sword and slid it across the man's throat. Blood covered the once clean floor as Naruto stood up letting go of the rogue's now limp hand. He placed his katana back into its hostler on his back and turned to his fallen teammate. _

_"Come on, Hiroki. We have to hurry back to get you fixed." Naruto told the unconscious man before positioning him on his back and taking off back towards the Leaf._

The memory ended as Naruto stared at the poison tipped needle. Hiroki died before he could get him back in time. That was the last time he had a partner on assassination missions. It was the reason he went solo. Naruto rotated the senbon in his fingers. It's the same poison, he figured. His mind still foggy, he thought of the rogue. The rogue had said it was his village's specialty.. Where was he from again? Naruto struggled to remember as he danced along the edge of consciousness and unconsciousness. He felt his body fall backwards onto his back as he tried to remember the village before the darkness caught up to him. The rogue was an ex nin from the...from the..the Mist Village. Naruto smiled, glad he remembered it at last. His body relaxed even more and opened up, accepting the darkness. But the realization only triggered more thoughts. Sakura is using special Mist poisons..? Sakura is from the Mist? But Ayumi is also from the Mist..? Could it be that Sakura and Ayumi are-? Confusion clouded over his mind as his body shut down dragging Naruto into the state of unconsciousness.

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><p><strong>So, what did you think? Do you think Sakura finally fulfilled her mission? Tell us in a review.<strong>

**You'll find out soon in chapter 7. :) **

**Thank you for continuing to read.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Yes, this is a very early update. However, we are updating right now because we will not be updating for quite awhile. NewYear's Tragedy and I will be out of town and unable to reach a computer. Another reason is because we're not quite sure what we want to do with chapter 8. We do know the specific events we want to happen, but the order and how we get to them is still fuzzy to us.**

**Enjoy chapter 7 :)**

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><p><strong>Sakura<strong>

The fire had begun to die down. Sakura's heartbeat began increasing dramatically. _The moment of truth, _she thought.

Over the top of the fire she could see Minato's body limp on the ground. She let out a sigh.

Sakura picked up handfuls of snow and lightly threw them to cover the fire. After five minutes half of the fire was put out, enough for her to reach the body safely. She sat down on the ground beside Minato. A single tear slid down her cheek.

_Wait, is his chest… moving?_ Sakura's eyes widened. _No no no no no! This was supposed to work! _She checked his pulse only to have her suspicion confirmed.

_What do I do? The poison was supposed to work! Think Sakura, what was your backup plan? _

_Oh yeah.._

Sakura looked to the side, past the fire, past the trees. She steadily calmed her breathing and controlled herself. Taking out a kunai from her pouch, she turned her attention back to Minato. Slowly, she moved the tip of the kunai closer to his neck. She let out a steady breath before the tip of the kunai sunk into the flesh of his neck. But she held it in place while it was only 5 millimeters in, only enough to draw a small amount of blood.

_Sakura, why are you faltering? _

Her brain was yelling at her, _Kill him now! You could end it and be back in your village in no time for that well deserved vacation._

But her heart… Her heart was softly cooing, _You can't kill him. He's the only one you've ever loved. You may never find another. _

Sakura took a minute to just stare at Minato, the perfection proportion of his face, the small hint of laugh lines that were beginning to form, his long dark eyelashes which she envied, and of course, his shaggy, messy blonde hair; her favorite feature.

Then…

Sakura threw the kunai across the clearing to have it hit the center of a tree. She quickly unzipped Minato's jacket flat. Then she picked up his left forearm and set it in her lap. While placing her hands on the spot that the senbon punctured, she channeled her chakra to her hands and allowed the pale green light to envelope them. She checked and made sure every drop of poison was removed from his system. She then did the same to the spot on his shoulder.

When she was done, she continued to stare at him.

She felt absolutely pathetic. What was she supposed to tell the Mizukage?

_Sorry, I accidently fell in love with the guy you told me to kill while fooling him into chasing his target, who was actually me. Please forgive me; I won't do it again._

Minato's head twitched at that moment. _He must be waking up.. _

Before she could stop herself, she slowly ran her fingers through his hair.

She softly whispered, "Now what am I going to do about you?"

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><p><strong>Naruto <strong>

The darkness was fading. It was like you were awake and could hear everything but yet your body was unresponsive. His mind was blank. Naruto remembered the trap but everything after the initial hit was gone. Almost like the poison took some of his memory away. Only bits and pieces were left but none of them added up. _I must've passed out,_ Naruto thought to himself. Panic filled him as he remembered his partner. _Ayumi! Is she ok? _He thought in horror. _What if Sakura had gotten to her?_

His panic increased his heart rate. It awakened his body as his eyelids slowly fluttered open to see Ayumi by his side. She was sitting next to him, her fingers on the bridge of her nose looking completely stressed. His eyes left her for a moment to see where he was. He was on his back with his arms out beside him. His green flack jacket was unzipped, unlikely from his doing. He rose to lean over his bent legs, his body numb. Naruto's eyes roamed over the scattered senbon trying to recall exactly what happened.

"Did she get away?" He asked his companion as he ran his fingers through his hair.

"Yes," Ayumi answered simply without emotion.

He stifled a laugh and turned to rest his blue eyes on her. "Don't tell me you saved my ass again. Because we just now got even."

Feeling his eyes on her, Ayumi turned her head away from him biting the inside of her cheek. Naruto smiled at the cute move before the very action jogged his memory. The move was all too familiar in some way. He just couldn't put his finger on it. She smiled while looking at the ground as she continued to bite the inside of her mouth.

It happened then. His entire mind focused on that same action over and over in his head. He was sucked back in a flashback of standing in Tsunade's office.

_"You will meet up with the Mist nin in Frost Country. From there you will explain the mission." Tsunade said. _

_"Attire?"_

_"What you're wearing. It will be easier for the Mist ninja to know." She pointed to his army green vest. "I do have a certain piece of information that may or may not be helpful. She did have a nervous tick. She would chew the inside of her mouth when she got jumpy or scared. She made it pretty obvious too."_

He reopened his eyes in surprise. He felt confusion, fear, and a lot of other emotions flow through him, hammering his nerves like live wire. He moved his head to stare at the ground trying to piece together the reasons why Ayumi could not be Sakura. Nothing came up. _She couldn't- Could she?_

_That time when you sacrificed your life to save hers_, his mind pointed out. _Her medical ninjutsu healed your wound effortlessly. And when you asked her about it she brushed it off. _

_When you first told her the target's name, she reacted a little strange. She excused herself soon after, as if something was wrong. _

The accusations in his head helped reveal his memory of what happened during the senbon assault, his realization before passing out. Ayumi and Sakura are both Mist Nin. The other part of his brain rolled its eyes at Naruto's thought. No. Ayumi is Sakura. Sakura is a Mist Nin.

_But the blonde girl..._ Part of his mind fought to prove Ayumi was not his target.

_Why do you think the blonde girl always disappears before you can get her, Naruto? _His mind asked. _It's because it's a clone. It explains why Ayumi is always so out of it, always tired after an encounter with the blonde. Her clone uses up a lot of her chakra._

_If she knew he was after her, why didn't she run? Why did she go to all the trouble of deceiving him?_

"Hello..? Minato..? You still there?" Ayumi waved her head in front of his face.

Breaking out of his daze, he offered a sly smile. "Yea, sorry. Just thinking."

He was so confused. Never in his life has he felt so conflicted.

_Kill her! She didn't hesitate to kill you. Remember the poison tipped senbon or have you already forgotten? _His mind screamed. _No,_ another part said. _Give her one last test. _

With inhuman speed, Naruto flipped open his kunai pouch and threw one straight at her head. In slow motion she leaned over to wipe something off her foot and the metal hit the tree behind her. She didn't even flinch, just sat back up staring at him. He couldn't tell what she was thinking. Her expression was so damn unreadable.

"Heh. Just playing with you." He heard himself chuckle awkwardly.

She relaxed slightly but her eyes never left him.

It's her. Ayumi of the Hidden Mist is Sakura Haruno. She had deceived him and he fell for it. He had to kill her before she killed him. He felt his teeth pierce the inside of his lower lip. Then why did it feel as if his insides were ripping apart at the very thought of it? Despite the fact she deceived him, he couldn't imagine killing her. Things had taken an unexpected twist and they were just beginning to become more than friends, or so he thought. Naruto was being pulled in two directions, one by the hand of his brain and the other by the hand of his heart. He was lead on. It was more likely that she had faked everything just to kill him. And yet, he fell for it. It was the realist thing he had ever experienced in his life.

He shook his head slightly so not even the human eye could detect it. _You are an assassin. Don't break the second rule of your job; never let emotion get in your way, it would make you weak._

It was only a matter of time and he couldn't keep this act up much longer.

"Dang. It got hot fast." He told her, shuffling out of his cloak, letting it fall to the forest floor.

That was a lie. It was cold as hell. He only wanted to free his katana from the cloth that covered it.

He yawned and scratched the back of his head near the base of his neck. This is it. This is your chance. As Naruto fake scratched his neck, his hand moved over to grasp the handle of the blade. In that same second, he pulled it out and swung it down on Ayumi, or Sakura. The hand clutching the blade was met with swift resistance. Sakura had grabbed his wrist before the katana could touch her. Her left hand was gripping his wrist tightly, suspending his attack, while her right hand was already behind her, clutching the hilt of her sword.

For those few seconds they stared at each other in a stalemate. Naruto stared into her green eyes with deep intensity but she didn't glance away. Everything was passing between them, all the lies and truth behind it. His eyes narrowed as her lips flipped over into a frown. He knew the moment that she realized her cover was blown because those green eyes suddenly became dull. In the next few seconds, they were off on their feet, metal clashing against metal.

Her weapon was much longer than his and even thinner but he was convinced it didn't give her the upper hand. He slammed his katana against her blade once more. "Well, this is a pleasant surprise, huh?"

Sakura didn't answer. Instead, she rolled over her weapon out from under his and slashed at one of his legs. He jumped back to avoid the blow.

"Answer me, Sakura!" He yelled, fury rising within him from all of the lies.

She faltered a bit at the sound of her true name, but kept coming at him. He made a move to disarm her by bringing his blade down on hers roughly with two hands. But Sakura was waiting for it. She moved her sword out of the way and came up with it, barely missing his jugular. He was forced to retreat a couple of steps back.

"I've should have known. How could I have been so blind?" Naruto yelled at her.

Metal scraped against metal as their swords became a blur as their fighting stance picked up the pace.

"Why didn't you run away?" He asked her over the sound of metal. "You knew I was assigned to kill you. Why did you stay?" Naruto yelled when their two swords were suspended in the air as both sides fought to push the other's over.

Finally speaking, she replied through her teeth. "I had my reasons." She yanked her weapon free of the stand off and came at him again.

"Why must you be so difficult!" Naruto yelled hitting her blade harder each time he made contact. "Just tell me."

She answered not in words but her actions. Her sword came down towards him and he had no choice but to block it. His katana being only a single side blade, he was able to hold the back of the blade with his left hand as he blocked her what could've been fatal blow.

"Why?" He yelled again, blocking another one of her blows.

As the tender side of him tried to find her reason for staying, the dark side of him was already pointing out all the ways to kill her. Naruto noticed her weapon was a dual blade. That meaning she couldn't block with both hands without cutting into her hand.

His instincts picking up, he moved into an offense position to force her to block with both hands. He moved a step forward with each hit, but she never backed down. He shifted his katana over into his right hand while he pulled a kunai from the pouch around his waist. He threw the metal at her at the same time he brought the katana down on her sword. Unbelievably, Sakura blocked the kunai and as it bounced of her sword. At the same time she stopped the advance of his katana by catching the weight of it on her sword.

It was then he realized she would be one of the hardest opponents he would ever face. Her swordsmanship was amazing. This girl was undoubtedly Sakura Haruno.

Metal resumed clashing against metal. They both fought for dominance, neither side wanting to lose ground. Naruto wondered just how long this dance would go on. But then, he saw his way out. There was an above ground root behind Sakura. If he could just push her back a couple of feet, he could trip her.

"Why!" He yelled slamming his weapon into hers. "Did!" He yelled each word with each blow. "You!" She stumbled backwards from the force of it. "Stay!"

Sakura's foot collided with the upward root. Her eyes widened as it caused her to stumble backwards.

"I got you now." Naruto told her, bending his knees and bringing his katana down on her.

"Think again." He heard her shout as his katana hit her sword on the tip, causing his blade to slide off and go deep into the ground.

With her sitting on the ground and him bending over with his weapon stuck in the dirt, Sakura kicked him in the stomach flipping him over onto his back. He felt the handle of his blade leave his hands as Sakura landed on top of him, straddling his waist. It would have been provocative, if it weren't for her sword held high about to descend on his skull. Reacting quickly, he caught her hands that were holding the blade, preventing her from getting him.

She was able to disarm and pin him at the same time?

"Shit. That was too close." He smiled at her as they struggled.

"Really, Minato. That's all you can say?" She told him, pushing down harder gaining an inch.

"Just tell me why, sweetcheeks." He mocked her, his muscles straining.

"Isn't it obvious?" She asked as if he was retarded.

"Obviously not." Naruto told her, his muscles burning from the force of keeping her at bay.

"I was sent to kill you. It was my mission." She told him threw clenched teeth.

It was strange. He didn't even react to the new information. Almost like he always knew.

"Was?" He smiled his signature grin.

"It still is, you idiot." She said as her weapon ascending closer to his head.

"Two assassins sent to kill one another. I wonder how this story will end..?" He said out loud his eyes calm.

"Want a spoiler alert?" Sakura asked, her blade now touching his cheek cutting into his face like a paper cut.

"Only if you can handle watching yourself die." He told her using all his might to push her blade up away from his face then jerk her arms to the side causing her to fall off him.

"You know if I was your wife, I'd serve you poison!" she shouted.

Naruto jumped to his feet and backed away from her, learning his lesson from before. "If I was your husband, I'd drink it!" His eyed his blade, which was still stuck firmly upright into the ground. His katana was a lost cause at the moment. He watched her get up as he grabbed another kunai from his pouch and raised it shoulder level in defense.

Sakura smirked, rotating her blade in her hands. "Is that all you got?"

"Oh, you really should not have said that." Naruto smiled and threw his kunai up into the air.

While her eyes followed the weapon he made a few quick hand signs. The kunai fell back down to earth as he caught it in his mouth and preformed the jutsu.

"Kage No Bushin Jutsu!" He yelled threw the handle in his mouth as over a hundred clones of him faced Sakura from all directions.

At will they all attacked her. It was a huge stampede as the mass of green, black and blonde hid her pink hair from sight.

He smiled, straightening out his back and pulling the kunai from his mouth. There is no way she is getting out of that unscathed.

A tap on his shoulder sent fear through his nerves as he turned to face the pink haired Mist Nin.

"Tag. You're it." She yelled punching him square in the jaw, sending him flying.

As he flew though the air, she appeared above him her blade raised. She began to bring her sword down on his stomach as he quickly formed a substitution jutsu and pulled himself out of that situation.

Naruto was now two hundred yards away. He was hiding behind a tree, breathing heavily watching her look around for him. Sliding down the tree he was leaning against he cursed. His body felt weak. Why was that? He searched his body for any wounds but found none. Naruto's eyes widened looking down at his arm, noticing a black seal.

"What the..?" He said looking closer.

He had seen this seal before used on one of his comrades. Now what did it do again..?

Naruto jumped to his feet in surprise. Shit. It drains chakra. She did come prepared. The Mist and her must have known of the chakra the fox gives him. His eyes narrowed at the thought in his head. The seal couldn't be removed. How did she get close enough to get me? His mind flashed back to when she punched him in the face. Damnit. Her other hand must have placed it. Naruto sighed and looked for a distraction; he needed to fight a way to remove it. He glanced to his side and saw that one of his clones was still active.

"Minato! You can't hide forever." She sang. When he made no move to show himself she continued, "You know, I've been wondering why you've chosen the name Minato since this morning. Care to enlighten me?"

_Shit. She figured that out too?_

"My name is not Minato! My name is Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki!" His clone yelled to her a smile playing along his lips.

He watched her and waited for her to move towards the clone. But she didn't. Instead Sakura placed her blade back in its hostler and closed her eyes in concentration.

What was she up to?

"That technically didn't answer my question, Naruto," she replied.

_Always gotta be a smartass._

He leaned over from behind the tree to get a better look. With her eyes closed, Sakura began to form a huge amount of hand signs.

"What the...?" Naruto said to himself.

"Suiton: Kyojin Nami Shougeki! (Water Release: Giant Wave Crash!)" He heard her yell, her eyes reopening.

A huge wave of water, ten stories tall maybe, rose into the air seemingly out of nowhere and headed out in all directions.

"Holy shit! This is going to get bad before it gets better!" He yelled turning and jumping onto the trees away from the wall of water quickly approaching him.

He heard the cracking and snapping of trees as the wave rolled over them like they were just twigs.

"Shit. Shit. Shit." He cursed to himself as he increased his pace ten fold.

The water only gained speed as he heard the rushing current. He could even feel water droplets as it approached him and bit at his heels. He pushed off a tree just as if gave way over the force of the water. The next tree he was going to land on was yanked from its roots as he fell into the giant wave of water. Going under, he balled up in order to protect himself from being ripped apart. Every now and then the water would push him upwards and he was able to swallow a breath of fresh air before being sucked back under again. He didn't know how long the wave carried him but he felt it lighten up and trees were no longer breaking under the impact of it. As he floated over to a tall maple tree, he opened his arms up and clutched to it for dear life. The water began to die out as the level of it dropped below him.

Naruto leaned his soaked body back against the tree as he sat watching the water go down on a limb of the maple tree. His bangs clung to his face. Annoyed, he shook his head side to side getting rid of the water like a dog. As much as he wanted to, Naruto knew he couldn't sit here forever. Sakura would no doubt be looking for him. She had just demonstrated a small ounce of her power and he worried what else she has up her sleeve. He would have to end this. End his mission. He had to or she would end him.

A plan began to form in his head as he pulled himself up from the tree limb. Forming another clone, he jumped down to the wet ground.

"What's the plan?" His clone inquired, smiling.

"You are going to pretend to be dying." Naruto told him, motioning towards the ground. "Lay down and appear as if you had drowned. She may have been pretending to like me, but I know she is not completely emotionless."

Not talking anymore, the clone laid in the wet grass. He opened his mouth and his face scrunched up to appear to be in pain. The real Naruto nodded and hid himself behind a nearby tree. He reduced his chakra signature and poured most of his and some of the fox's into the clone. Once he had a steady stream going, he put his right arm down in a ready position. It was only a matter of time now.

"Naruto. Come out, come out wherever you are." He heard her call from a distance.

Light footsteps grew louder before falling short. His lips pulled back in a half smile as she approached his 'body.' Sakura's face was filled with many emotions. More than he could name.

No more games. No more stalling. All the lies and the fake truth was going to fade along with the light in her eyes. He was going to end it and end her. He had joked with her up until this point and it was him who was putting off the inevitable. One of them was going to die tonight and it sure as hell was not going to be him.

When she crossed the invisible boundary he had set up in his mind, he knew it was now or never. His left hand came up slowly to grip the forearm of his right arm. He then opened his right hand showing his palm.

Sidestepping out of the tree line he charged at her. "Rasengan!"

The spiraling ball of chakra formed in his hand as he ran. Naruto thrust it forward just as Sakura turned around. Then something weird happened. He believed she jumped to the side to dodge his attack, but it was too late. Her left shoulder and forearm was caught in the jutsu. Blood flew in the air, her blood. The Rasengan doesn't cut, it grinds, he remembered as the spiraling ball left her arm and depleted. As he fell past her, she jumped backwards out of his way.

"I trusted you and you betrayed me, Sakura. How dare you play with my emotions!" He shouted, his anger of the whole situation getting the better of him.

A sharp pain brought him back to his senses. It was in his lower back. Reaching his arm around, he yanked out a kunai embedded into his lower back. Dropping the bloodied weapon, he gazed over at Sakura. She must have stabbed him as he hit her with the Rasengan.

She was holding onto her forearm, blood seeping out between her fingers as they stared at each other.

"How dare you use the Fourth Hokage's name. Didn't think I would remember the fourth Hokage of the village I was born in?" She hissed, anger clouding her eyes.

He drew his second to last kunai from his pouch and faced her once more. "You going to attack me, sweetcheeks? Or will I have to?" He said angrily his voice no longer joking.

Before she could answer, he was in front of her, his sharpened metal digging into the top of her shoulder blade. The metal sank into her flesh as she cried out in pain before bringing her own kunai towards his stomach. He was already yelling out in agony before her blade hit him. Naruto didn't know why his body reacted that way. He tried to side step but she held on to him as her weapon hit the far side of his stomach. The force of it knocking him on his ass as he stared up at her, his hand wrapped around the kunai that was still sticking out of him. He felt blood run down the side of his lips and fall to the ground. She had retreated yanking the metal out of her flesh and placed her hand over the wound as a green light surrounded it.

And here he was brought back into the stages of his mind as his blood boiled. A girl he had once trusted. Betrayed him. A girl he had once protected. Betrayed him. A girl he had once begun to like... Betrayed him. She had turned his kindness into a mockery and used it against him. Never again will he let someone get so close then tear themselves out.

"I will fucking kill you." He told her, his right hand pulling up, removing the weapon from his stomach.

Blood spilled over his green vest, as the weapon no longer blocked the flow of his blood. Naruto rose to his feet just as Sakura dropped her hand from her wound.

"Not if I get to you first." She returned, just as fierce.

They faced each other, two rising tides determined to wash the other out. Blood covered the green grass just as it had in his dream.

"Nice job. You already tried once and failed." He pointed out, his anger threatening to boil over.

Her eyes narrowed in hatred. "Twice. You didn't even notice the first one."

Twice? Surprise barely hit him as the anger toward himself covered it. He was so stupid to have let his guard down.

"Didn't matter, huh? Because you still couldn't complete your mission." He put his arms out open at her. "Three strikes and your out, huh?" Naruto frowned at her then smiled wickedly. "All I need is one."

No one could've predicted what would happen next. They had the intent of killing each other. And they were going to do it, no matter what the costs.

He pushed off his feet and ran towards her. "Odama Rasengan!"

A huge spiraling ball of chakra erupted from the palm of his hand.

"Suiton: Hahonryuu! (Water Style: Destruction Torrent)" A large amount of water exploded out of her hand as both of their jutsus met head on.

"Suiton: Gufuu Suika! (Water Style: Typhoon Water Vortex)" He heard her yell before his jutsu seemed to cancel out as the water from her palm surrounded him, trapping him in a wall of spiraling water.

His eyes widened. How was that possible? His jutsu just was sucked up in hers. How?

The water closed in on him from all sides. He was trapped as the rushed towards him.

"NO!" He heard a voice shout, but the cry was soon muffled out by the crashing of the water.

He struggled to contain himself from being ripped apart by the current. That was before everything went black.

"Wake up, kid." A deep voice commanded him.

His eye sight blurred as he opened his eyes ever so slowly. Rolling his head to the direction of the voice, Naruto realized where he was.

"You almost drowned. I've saved your body. Your chakra is low and you are now running on mine." The voice informed him.

"How?" He asked weakly.

"Her last jutsu is a special technique that uses a Wind Style: Rasengan and Water Style: Destruction Torrent to cause a hurricane like typhoon. In short, that Mist Nin used your own jutsu against you for her own benefit," The deep voice said sounding disappointed.

Unable to return to his feet he laid where he was. "Take me back."

"Not before you realize why you are fighting."

"I know why I'm fighting." Naruto told the voice angrily.

"No, you don't. Tell me why you couldn't make the finishing blow in the first Rasengan."

"She jumped out of the way in time." Naruto told him, annoyed.

"No. She didn't. You were about to deliver the fatal blow but at the last second you averted your path, hitting her in the forearm."

"Why does this matter, Fox?" Naruto sighed.

"You know the answer to your own question."

Naruto closed his eyes, letting his thoughts clear of all that was happening. Why did he change course of his jutsu? Even if he didn't remember it? He tried to remember the feeling of running at her with the full intent of killing her. It scared him. Not for him but for her. He didn't want to hurt her. He wanted the opposite. Instead he wanted to protect her. He wanted to protect the very thing that was trying to kill him. He was wrong about everything. He lied to himself and his emotions tried to warn him but he always looked the other way. Naruto had already destroyed the second and now he had broken the number one rule an assassin should always follow.

"Well?"

"I can't kill her." Naruto said out loud mostly to himself.

"Why not?" The deep voice asked but it was obvious he already knew the answer.

Naruto knew the Fox just wanted him to admit it to himself. "Because... I love her." He responded as his current surroundings faded and his state of mind was being dragged back into reality.

He coughed up water from his lungs and couldn't stop it from spilling out of his mouth as he rolled over onto his side. The pain in his throat was fading rapidly. So was the pain in all of his wounds. He had already lost count of how many times she landed a hit on him. Naruto glanced down at the puddle of water beside where he laid. Water was mixed with bright red blood. As he looked past it, his reflection showed a monster. His eyes were not his, but the fox's. His teeth were already sharpening by the second and the lines along his checks were getting darker and deeper. Black was dipping down from the sides of his mouth and outlined his eyes. He knew he had control over the fox. It just had been a while since he was forced to resort to using it's chakra.

Naruto pushed off his arms and slowly stood up leaving his arms dangling. He was still dazed by his own confession. How would this work? He never realized he had fallen for Ayumi, Sakura. It was clear she didn't feel the same for him. Would he roll over and let her kill him? He shook his head at the thought. Ordered to kill someone he loved. Was it even possible to do such a thing? His was torn, literally. Holding one of his arms was the Leaf, the Hokage, the people he swore to protect, and emotions such as pride, responsibility, and shame. While clutching his other arm, by itself, was the emotion of love. An emotion he had never had and yet the effect was so strong. From the blood stained battlefield to the darkest part of himself that he had ever known, he always believed that one day he'd die in battle. There was only one option. He really hoped she felt nothing for him. It had to end this way. Acceptance rested on his head and he was determined that he would die by her hand. With that, he would never disgrace his village or endanger her life any further. Simple, really. He could handle and live with that decision. The only problem was the fox. He would have to over power and suppress the fox long enough for Sakura to end him.

He turned around to face Sakura who stood staring at him like he had risen from the grave. Her green eyes showed concentration, determination and a little fear. She reached behind her and drew her sword and placed it in both of her hands.

"So, this is the jinchuriki. The Nine-Tailed Fox that almost destroyed the Leaf so many years back." She spoke, her words not faltering.

Naruto smiled slightly, ashamed. At that moment he began to close off the fox's chakra, letting more of his take over. "No, Sakura. It's just me."

He concentrated on closing more of the flow of chakra before a force stopped him. Well not stop. It tried to resist.

"Stop suppressing me." The Fox ordered inside his head. "She is still draining your chakra and you are dangerously low already."

Naruto shook his head. _I don't need you, Fox._ _I can handle this myself. It started with me and it will end with me. _

"So hardheaded. Whichever. You will be forced to use mine if this continues." The Fox informed him before slipping back into silence.

It was like the fox was unaware of his plans. Even better.

Looking back up he noticed Sakura was gone. She appeared in front of him her blade coming down into the front of his face. Faster then human speed, he clapped his hands around the blade catching it and stopping it in mid-air. Naruto's hands were in a prayer like position and he smirked at Sakura's shocked expression.

"Scary, right?" He asked her before letting go of the blade and jumping to the side.

She tried again, her blade inching past his face. Her attacks continued but each attempt ended like the first. Another blow aimed for his stomach, he caught the weapon in his hands before it could carry through. Sakura jumped back away from him. She was panting, obviously tried and running low on chakra. Taking a deep breath she straightened out her back.

"Naruto." She said, using his real name as if she knew no other.

He froze. The way she said it was almost like back at the hot springs. He knew she was using it against him, but now that he realized he loved her, it worked like a charm. In his moment of distraction, Naruto felt a cold blade press itself against his neck. The blade touched his jugular drawing a slight speck of blood.

"You kill me Sakura and I kill you." Naruto informed her and he felt her move to look down.

True, he wasn't really distracted when she moved behind him. Once she did, he pulled out a kunai and held it on his back so the tip was touching her stomach. Once again they were at stalemate. Each one trapped by the other's weapon. Both seemed hesitant to make a move. Wounds covered their bodies, even with the fox and her medical ninjutsu. He gazed at the blood covering her right arm where she held the blade. Her shoulder was bleeding badly. His insides churned knowing that he was the one who did that to her.

"Why are you still fighting?" He asked her, looking up at the sky and the clouds passing by.

"I have to complete my mission." She said simply.

"You can't, you know? I know you are smart, smarter than me. You have planned every move so well and you already know how this will end. I may not come off very smart, but Sakura, I do know there is a reason you have gone back to fighting with your sword. Your chakra is low and you have already realized in this situation you have no chance, for you have lost your element of surprise." Naruto said slowly as he completely shut off the fox's chakra.

The deep black lines faded and his teeth returned to his own. Without the fox's chakra the pain from his wounds returned. His knees bent a little as he stared straight ahead. Pain from the kunai in his back, pain from the kunai to his stomach and the overall loss of chakra consumed him. Her chakra draining jutsu still ate away the energy he still had left. He was a weak man. If he were a man, he would have completed his mission with no hesitation. But he couldn't. Just couldn't bear it.

He turned to glance at her, showing her his blue eyes had once returned and she gave him a suspicious look. He didn't want the fox to do his work for him. This was his life and his fight. She needed to see it in his eyes that he meant every word he was going to tell her.

"That being said, Sakura. I have come to realize I can't. I can't kill you." He explained. "An assassin's biggest mistake." He muttered to himself, barely audible for her to hear.

The blade loosened around his neck but still remained. "Why not, Naruto? You die, I die, or both of us. You know it has to end this way. That's how it all began." She told him, her eyes giving away her lie.

He turned to face forward once again, his eyes determined with his decision. "Sakura, all my life I have fought for my village and killed people that were deemed dangerous. I thought I was living a shinobi's life. But I wasn't. I was just an empty shell carrying out orders." He laughed sadly. "A broken man with nothing to live for. And then a light at the end of a dark tunnel beckoned me. And for once I realize I am not alone in this horrible profession and yet somehow I found happiness surrounded by all the sadness.." He closed his eyes then glanced back at her staring into her eyes before dropping his kunai that was poised at her abdomen. A small smile spread across his lips when the metal landed softly on the ground as he became completely at her mercy. "I guess what I'm trying to say is, my life didn't actually begin until I realized that I love you.."

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><p><em>"We are all born for love. It is the principle of existence, and its only end."<em>

_- Benjamin Disraeli_

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><p><strong>If you didn't read the AN at the beginning, please read this one. There will not be another update for at least a week, most likely longer. We know what we want to happen but we're unsure how and when and exactly how to get Naruto and Sakura in those certain situations. <strong>

**We would very much appreciate small ideas; not ending scenes. The ending is already decided. **

**Please review us with your opinions on this chapter and your ideas. :)**

**Thank you!**


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: Just a reminder, An Assassin's Mistake is a partner story between NewYear's Tragedy and Miss Indescribable. Thank you to the reviewers, those who added this story to favorites and currently following it.**

**And we are VERY VERY VERY sorry that it's been more than 2 weeks since we've updated! We hope this chapter is worth it. **

**Chapter 8**

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><p><strong>Sakura<strong>

_I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you… _

The words continued to echo in her head over and over.

Surely he didn't say..

_I love you. _

He spoke the impossible words.

_He _loves_ me. _

Sakura tightened her grip on the sword and placed it closer to his neck. She could feel it puncture his skin. _What do I do? Should I kill him? No. Yes.. _A war was raging in her head. _You have to kill him. It only makes sense. It will make your life so much easier. After this mission is completed, you can take that long vacation you've been dreaming of._

A tear slid down her cheek. _But… I don't want to kill him. He doesn't deserve to die. This mission is.. Absurd. I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO._

Sakura held the sword against his neck for several more seconds before dropping it on the ground in front of him, when her hand began to tremble. "No. No I- I can't kill you."

Naruto was still for a few seconds before picking up the sword and turning around to face her. He pushed the sword to her, trying to make her grip it again. "Yes. Yes, you can," he sounded angry. "You have to kill me!"

Sakura recoiled at his aggressiveness. She returned angry as well, "Do not tell me what to do _Naruto Uzumaki_! I will not kill you. If you want to die, you can just take that sword and slit your own throat." Her throat tightened as she spoke the last statement.

"Weak men kill themselves," he stated as he threw the sword across the small clearing that they had created. "You're leaving me with two options. Either you kill me or… or…" he trailed off, struggling to find his second option.

"Or I could tell you that I love you too," Sakura finished for him.

Naruto nodded. "Yes, or you could…" He paused, replaying what Sakura had just said. "What?!" His head shot up in bewilderment. "Take that back!"

"Excuse me?" Hurt shot through Sakura.

"Eat. Your. Words. Now!" Sakura was confused. She couldn't find anger in his eyes, but fear.

"Who do you think you are? Telling me what to do? How dare you!"

"You can't love me!"

"Says who!? Huh!? Last time I checked I didn't have to ask you for permission to breathe!"

"Sakura.. Please." Naruto's demeanor saddened.

But Sakura wasn't ready to calm down yet. Her voice lowered as she laced it with poison, "If you ever tell me what to do again, your precious dick? Gone. Me? Gone. You said weak men kill themselves? Well, I think weak men ask somebody else to do it for them. So don't give me that bullshit. If you want to call yourself a man, suck it up and deal with our situation."

Naruto's shoulders drooped as he gave in. "I guess I have no other choice, huh?"

"No. You don't."

Sakura watched as Naruto took the step that separated them and wrapped his arms around her. "I'm sorry. Just.. promise me that if we do this, you'll never give up, you'll fight for both of us until we find the other side of the tunnel."

Sakura stood up on her toes and kissed his cheek. "Of course." She then wrapped her arms around Naruto's torso while pressing her cheek against his chest. They both stayed in that position for several minutes, just trying to hold on to the moment.

Naruto was the first to pull away to look at Sakura. "So what do we do now boss?"

Sakura grinned. And then sighed. "Hell if I know.."

"Well, we'll figure it out." Naruto smiled before turning and walking away.

"Where are you going?" A small amount of panic began to rise in Sakura.

He chuckled. "To sit against a tree. That fight took a lot out of me."

The mention of the fight finally made Sakura aware of Naruto's condition. "Damn right you're going to go sit by a tree, and while you're at it you're going to let me heal you."

After another step, Naruto collapsed on the ground.

_What the hell… Shit. The Seal! _

Sakura scrambled over to Naruto and dropped to her knees. As soon as she was done removing the seal, she checked his vitals. She relaxed. He was going to need a good day or so to recover, but he was going to be fine.

Scratch that, half a day. _Stupid nine tails_. Sakura shook her head.

Ignoring her own low chakra levels, she began to heal his wounds; the hole in his stomach and in his back, both from kunai, and all of the others as well.

When she was done, she picked up Naruto and carried him the rest of the way to the tree, not that it was a long distance. As she leaned her back against the tree, she laid Naruto on his back and set his head in her lap and closed her eyes.

She slowly let the reality of their situation sink in. Sakura knew she should be panicking, wondering what the hell she was going to do to get out of this alive, with Naruto. But right now, she just wanted to rest, something she hasn't been able to do in months.

Sakura let her head tilt back until it was resting against the tree as she sighed. She didn't move a muscle for 30 minutes, until she felt Naruto's body begin to move. As she was looking down at him, he was slowly opening his eyes.

"I was wondering when you were going to take that chakra seal off of me." Naruto smirked.

Sakura's eyes narrowed. "You _remembered _and you didn't tell me?"

He chuckled. "Naw. It came to me the split second before I blacked out."

"Hmm."

"Did it scare you?"

"You'll never know."

"I'll take that as a yes."

They stayed quiet for a few minutes. Sakura decided to let Naruto think for a while. She might as well take the time to sort through some of their options.

_Well, for one, we could both just never return, leaving our villages to think that we both died in battle. But, in all honesty, Naruto is the stronger one by far. There is no way that the Leaf would believe that we somehow destroyed each other. I am no jinchuriki. The Mist, however, I don't know how they would respond. I'm not sure whether Mei knew she was sending me on a suicide mission, or if she actually thought I could complete it. It would take the Leaf quite a while to figure out that 'Sakura' and I were the same person. But they knew that a Mist Nin was Naruto's partner. They would start there and eventually figure it out. _

_Another option is for Naruto to return and have his mission 'completed' while I could enter the village after a month or so as a new person and completely give myself a new identity. But then I would have to give up being a kunoichi because they would question my loyalty to the Leaf, and there is nothing else I'm better at. And it would have to be at least a year before Naruto and I could announce our relationship because he would have to have plenty of time to 'meet' me for the first time and get to know each other._

_We could both go to our separate villages and claim we 'completed' our mission and then leave during the night and never return. But Naruto is a jinchuriki, they would never let him just become a rogue. Nobody would stop until they found us and killed us, because they would put two and two together and figure out that neither of us actually died._

_We could always explain to our Kages our situation and hope they understand and allow us to leave in peace. Ha. Yea right. That would more likely result in a war._

_Or… we could both commit suicide._

Sakura continued thinking until the sun had set behind the trees. It created a dim lighting.

She glanced down at Naruto. How was it that she had gone from the intent of killing this man, to figuring out he was the love of her life? Just hours ago, she was plotting his death and now she's sitting here thinking of ways to prevent it, and not just his, but hers as well.

She smiled gently to herself. _I love this feeling.. This.. feeling of being wanted. _She slowly ran her fingers through his hair. He closed his eyes and smiled before opening them and looking at her.

"You're thinking hard aren't you?"

"I wish I didn't have to."

Naruto sat up. "Okay, then let's talk about something else. Scoot up," he commanded.

Sakura complied. Naruto moved in behind her so that he was leaning against the tree and wrapped his arms around Sakura's waist and pulled her to him. He rested his chin on her shoulder as he asked, "I want to know all about your childhood."

Sakura turned her head just slightly so he could see her smile, before she began talking. "Well I'm sure you've connected the dots by now. Yes, I did used to live in the Leaf. I had only been placed on my genin team for two days before I had to move. My parents never like to bring it up. I took it pretty hard. It was the happiest moment of my life; I was finally a genin. I remember very little before that. I know there was this boy. He was the class clown, but in a bad way. He was always getting in trouble. He was on my genin team, I remember being disappointed when our academy sensei called out his name. But I can't remember for the life of me what it was. When I moved to the Mist, they made me go through their version of the academy all over again, so I was behind everybody. But I –"

"Holy shit."

"What?"

"I just remembered something from my briefing for this mission."

"What is it?

Naruto smiled. "Guess who that annoying little boy was?"

Sakura took a few seconds to contemplate his question before her eyes widened. "No way." She turned her torso around to look at him to confirm he wasn't lying. "Well I'll be damned."

"I don't know why I haven't remembered till now. I guess I just didn't have time to remember the details." He shrugged before smirking, "Disappointed, huh?"

"Who said that?" Sakura pretended to look around for the 'culprit' before giggling. "I was like ten years old. And you have obviously turned into a kind, gentle and handsome man." As she said this she caressed his cheek with her thumb.

Naruto's face broke into a big grin. "Okay, you're forgiven." He leaned in and quickly placed a kiss on her lips.

Sakura's cheeks turned the color of a tomato. "I don't remember giving you permission to kiss me."

"And what, exactly, are you going to do about it?"

Sakura placed her lips on Naruto's and left them there for several seconds. When Naruto tried to deepen the kiss, Sakura pulled away. He made pouty face. "What'd you do that for?"

Sakura grinned. "Not now. We have a lot more to worry about."

Naruto's face saddened. "Like what? We can worry about everything tomorrow."

"Like building a fire. I don't know about you, but I'm freezing."

Naruto's face was thoughtful. "Now that you mention it.." He stood up. "I'll go collect some wood that wasn't soaked by your jutsu earlier."

Sakura smiled as she watched him walk away. She reached up and touched her lips. _I shouldn't have ended that kiss.. _

"What are you staring at?"

Sakura screamed and she practically jumped while turning around. "Naruto, you asshole!" She took a deep breath. "How did you do that?"

"Oh, that's right. You don't know my favorite jutsu of all time." He smirked.

"We'll give you a hint." She heard Naruto say, but the Naruto in front of her hadn't moved his lips. She whipped around to find another Naruto walking towards her with more wood.

"Shadow clones." She stated.

It took ten minutes to get the fire going. As soon as it was, Naruto dispersed his clone. They both sat down next to each other. Without saying a word, Naruto grabbed her chin and made her look at him. Before she could utter a word, Naruto's lips were on hers. He pushed against her but she stabilized herself by putting an arm behind her. She wrapped the other arm around his neck. He tilted his head to deepen the kiss and she followed suit. She was new to kissing so she was going to make him initiate everything. A strange feeling was on her lips; his tongue, she figured. As soon as she parted her lips, his tongue darted in. Sakura decided to experiment and began to play with his tongue with her own. It was a different feeling she had to admit. But she rather enjoyed it.

The weight on her arm was beginning to become too much so she slowly began to lean back, bringing Naruto with her. He repositioned himself so that he was between her legs, without breaking the kiss. His hands had begun to explore her body: her stomach, thighs, wherever he could. There was a particular spot on her stomach right above her shorts that made her shiver every time he grazed it.

Sakura's arms were tightly wrapped around Naruto's neck. She wanted him as close to her as possible. She's never experienced anything that made her feel like this. Her body was beginning to heat up. She tried to calm herself down, but her hormones were preventing it. She could hardly think straight. Sure, they were only kissing. But Sakura's first kiss had only occurred 30 minutes ago. For her, things were escalating fast and she didn't mind one bit.

At some point during their kiss, Naruto had flipped them so Sakura was straddling him on top. The logical part of Sakura told her that this kiss needed to end and they needed to figure out what to do next. But the Sakura that had been hidden for so long was taking over in full force. She didn't want this kiss to end for quite awhile.

Sakura decided to be a slight tease. She kissed Naruto and pulled away slowly with his bottom lip between her teeth and waited for him to reach up and capture her lips again. She would do it several times before she would give in and kiss him deeply and lose herself in the kiss.

At some point, Sakura found herself entangling her fingers in his hair, and as soon as she did Naruto deepened the kiss and began to kiss her sloppily but passionately, from lack of control she figured. She would never admit it out loud, but she loved when he went crazy like that.

For the most part, Naruto's hands remained on her ass, holding her close to him. They would travel, however, up her back and down her thighs. Wherever his hands made contact, her skin felt as if it was on fire.

They were enjoying a slow, soft kiss when Naruto finally pulled away. "If I don't stop now, I never will."

Sakura blushed heavily at his words but she nodded. She didn't trust herself to speak. She was too full of emotions.

She climbed off of him while he sat up. They were sitting side by side with her resting her head on his shoulder.

Finally finding her voice she said, "I'm not cold anymore."

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><p><strong>Naruto<strong>

His breath blew out in a rush through his lips as he glanced between himself and her. He was physically and emotionally tired. Never in his life has he felt the weight of his experiences rest over his shoulders as he watched every little move she made. His lip curved up in a small smile just watching her mess with her hair thinking quietly to herself. The complete opposite of him and yet that was what brought them together. This moment reminded him so much of that folk tale ninja used to tell each other when ever camping or taking a break on missions. Come think of it, the story reminded him of their situation.

Once, many years ago, during the first shinobi war, two ninjas of Konoha fought together against wave after wave of enemy. Their names: Naoko Tanaka and Suzu Umino. They had planned to marry one another but war had destroyed those plans. They were teammates who had just lost their third member to a surprise ambush attack. The Second Hokage had given his life to allow his subordinates to retreat as their unit continued to fight in order to reach him, but they couldn't get through. They had just been given the order to retreat by their superior when they were surrounded by Cloud ninja. Out of chakra, they stood back to back, their swords facing in a ready position to defend them; but in vain. They were surrounded and gravely outnumbered. Their hearts told them to flee together so their love may survive and yet their brains told them to stay and defend their village to the death. Naoko had turned to Suzu and was about to tell her to make a run for it and he would cover her, but she stopped him and merely said, "If this is the end, I want to follow you to the beginning." He didn't argue his case any further as they were assaulted by countless shinobi. Blood stained the battlefield and bodies littered the ground as the two Leaf Nin relied on each other as their strength depleted. Cuts and gashes covered them as they breathed heavily looking for an end in the ranks of enemy. Which would never come. Once a Cloud Nin died, another would replace him immediately. A sword pierced Naoko's stomach as he tried to block an attack intended for Suzu. As he fell to the ground he slammed a kunai into his attacker's heart. Soon after, she fell next to him, her legs shredded to pieces. They died together on that night when he threw himself in front of a blade aimed for her in order to save her. Unknowing to him, the blade went threw him and into her. He died right after as she slowly faded off into the darkness. When discovered, they were found smiling despite the dried blood caked across their lips.

Legend had said the story came from a Cloud soldier who was there, while other stories say a Leaf shinobi watched it happen from a distance and couldn't make it in time to help them. Some conspiracies even say it was made up in order to help the war effort and there was no record of Naoko and Suzu ever existing.

He tilted his head to look at Sakura. Her eyes flickered back up at him and let out a frustrated sigh. It seemed she was still nowhere with a reasonable plan.

Either way, Naruto believed the legend was a true story. After all, he has seen that history does repeat itself. If Sakura and he were to stand by their villages it would end in death like the legend.

"You close to anything yet?" He asked poking the wood in the fire, earning sparks to fly into the air.

"It's not like baking a cake, Naruto. This takes time." She merely answerd, her eyes still blank as she searched through her mind.

He picked a twig from the ground and tossed it into the flames. "I find baking a cake to be extremely hard." He began. "You have to have all the ingredients: the sugar, flour, icing, and not to mention having to measure all the items. Hell, I don't even know what you do after that." His eyes met hers as she gave him a look that screamed 'are you fucking kidding me?'

Naruto smiled, his grin spreading across his face. Sakura rolled her eyes pushed away from him to stand onto her feet. He frowned watching her go as his arms fell to his legs.

"Something wrong..?" He asked.

She rounded on him clearly not happy. "Yes, something in definitely wrong. How can you sit there cracking jokes?! I don't know if you realized it yet, but we broke our loyalty! I have ran through all the possibilities in my head and believe me, most don't end good for us."

She turned to face away from him and stared into the darkness of the trees. Her arms crossed over her chest as her fingers gripped into her forearms tightly. She was physically holding herself together to keep from slipping over that edge that defined them. He glanced to the sides of his body deep in thought before turning to stare at her figure against the night. Naruto pushed himself up despite the groaning of his body in protest. He staggered a few steps to her and wrapped his arms around her torso from behind, his head resting on her shoulder. She remained rigid for a few seconds like she was not used to the contact but soon after her form relaxed against him.

"You asked how I could just sit there cracking jokes, yea?" He told her leaning in to face her. "It is because I know that no matter what, no matter the decision, no matter where our paths take us... I know that I will never stop trying to be with you." He smiled slightly before his face dipped into seriousness. "Not even death will stand in my way." He pulled his head back to stare into the canopy of darkness. "I know we will find a way. And I say we. You are not on your own, I will help you the entire way."

He let the sounds of the forest interrupt while their minds lingered on his words and the battle they soon would be up against.

He let go of her arms as she turned to face him. "Besides.." Naruto said motioning up and down his body with his hands. "The Mizukage can't touch this."

Sakura's laugh caught her throat as she turned to the side trying to muffle her laughs while pinching the bridge of her nose. "You see? This is what I'm talking about." She told him but no longer mad. She said the words as a joke and he took them as he was off the hook.

He reached out and took her hand in his and led her back to the fire. Naruto eased himself down and she followed into his arms. They watched the dying fire as embers crackled letting smoke rise into the air. The silence enveloped them and in a way it was comforting. They didn't need to say anything. They could enjoy each other's silence without the need to speak. However, Naruto's mind was full of words. His cool and carefree appearance was actually a raging terminal on the inside as he tried to find a way for them to be together and yet not alert or betray their villages. Each suggestion in his mind ended with one of the party dying. That party of course never being Sakura and he hated to think she was doing the exact same but in reverse.

"I'll take first watch." He told her after awhile watching the ambers dwindle down.

"Hmm." She said already starting to drift of to sleep.

Her hand rose up to cup his cheek bringing his head down to look at her. "I've figured it out." She said after awhile of gazing into his eyes.

He waited for her to continue, his arm tightening around her waist. Whatever she may suggest, he knew he could pull it off. His curiosity peaked as so did his fear. As an assassin you were always told to expect the unexpected and yet her answer still caught him completely off guard.

Her thumb brushed over his cheek bone, green eyes locking with blue. "We both have to die."

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><p><strong>Once again, please forgive us for the super late update! We hope that you haven't forgotten about us. <strong>

**Chapter 9 should be up soon! And this time I'm not lying. **

**Thank you. Please tell us what you think in a review! :)**

**Also, Please check out a story that is on NewYear Tragedy's profile called, Of Sins and Lost Virtues. **


	9. Chapter 9

**YES! CHAPTER 9 IS ACTUALLY POSTED! YOU CAN ALL GO SCREAM AND CRY NOW FROM EXTREME HAPPINESS!**

**Now, I will admit it was entirely my fault. I got so caught up in school. But now it is summer and that will simply not happen any longer. New Years Tragedy and I will make sure that this story sees an end, and very soon actually. We are estimating 14 chapters. It won't be shorter but it could be longer. Just stay with us please! We love your support and thank you for giving us over 100 reviews. You guys are awesome. **

**This is where the story is going to get confusing and tricky. We want you all to keep in mind that this story is AU so a lot of this does not follow the story line. Bare with us because this story will still leave you completely satisfied. I guarantee it. **

**Without further ado, Chapter 9 of Assassin's Mistake**

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><p><strong>Naruto<strong>

"What?!"

"You heard me." She said, her voice level and calm, so unlike his.

His eyed squeezed shut in slight fury. "So that's it then? You're giving up? We're going to chose suicide?!" He asked, leaning back onto the grass, looking up at the sky as if it held all of the answers.

Hurt and consideration was obvious across his face. Was there really no way they could be together? Hell, he didn't mind sacrificing himself, but dragging Sakura down with him? That pretty much defeated the whole purpose.

He felt an assertive force come down on his head dragging his attention back to her. "Oww. What the hell was-tjmphmphmph." Sakura cupped her hand over his mouth, muffling his words.

"Would you please just shut up for one minute, you idiot. God! You talk too much." She hissed trying hard to control her anger. She took a breath to regain her composure before continuing. "I did not mean we literally have to die. We just have to make the whole world believe that we did."

Her hand left his face cautiously and he gave her a look before talking. "You mean fake our deaths?"

"In simpler terms, yes." She smirked at his annoyed expression. "However, it will be very difficult to pull off." She considered the ideas in her head for a moment. "My death will be relatively easy. Mainly because I was sent after a jinchuriki and there are a lot of ways and reasons why I wouldn't return." She stopped and stared at him up and down. "You, however, will be much harder to kill off. The reason being, trying to convince your Hokage that her jounin jinchuriki died on a partner mission with the Mist will be quite difficult. The Leaf and Mist relations are already rocky. You see how that looks suspicious?"

"Ah, I see." He nodded his head and breathed roughly throughout his nose.

Convincing that old hag will be difficult. She was so good at seeing through him. He mentally laughed, and then his face darkened. He would be leaving his village and all those within it. Despite the way he was treated as a child, he couldn't help but feel slightly sad that he would never return to the village. Everything that he had worked for... it would be thrown away. Naruto mentally slapped himself. Don't think that way, he exclaimed to himself. Sure he would lose the village and the people in it, but yet he would gain the only love of his life he would ever know. All things in life come with sacrifices and Sakura was worth it. Besides, if the Leaf were ever attacked he would help from behind the scenes, Naruto thought mischievously.

Convinced with his new decision, Naruto turned his attention back on Sakura. Her eyes were blank as she stared off somewhere beyond the trees, thinking quietly to herself.

It was amazing how fast they fell in love. He didn't believe in that love at first sight crap. He hated her guts when he first met her. He remembered her cocky attitude and that sarcastic demeanor. He also remembered he tried at every chance to embarrass her or even beat her in an argument. Naruto always did wonder when it took a sudden turn for the better? Could it have been because of the obvious holes in their lives that allowed love to so easily walk in? Or was it the slight memory of their past together that yearned for a reunion among old friends? Either way, he was glad. No, more than glad. It was one of those feelings you didn't have a word for. It just took over your entire being filling you with this insanely strong unnamed emotion. Some would call it love but that word was tossed around too much and lost its effect. What they had was so much more, so much stronger, so much dearer to him.

Sakura was now watching him as his mind rambled on in his own head. She shook her head at him in a playful disapproving way, almost like she knew exactly what he was thinking. Or maybe she was checking him out; he hoped the latter, or maybe even both.

"What could possibly be going through your mind to have you stare at me like that for so long..?" She asked.

Naruto grinned, flashing his teeth. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

Her eyes narrowed into little slits, her fingers curling into fists.

Naruto realizing his mistake, he quickly yelled out. "It was nothing perverted! I swear!"

Sakura rolled her eyes, her body relaxing as much as her shinobi training would allow. She yawned and leaned back so her head was resting on his chest. "It's getting late, we'll sleep on it," referring back to their ideas on how they would 'die'. "In the morning, we will continue our discussion." Sakura informed him.

In an unspoken decision, they had decided to camp out in the forest due to their lack of energy and chakra instead of trying to make it back to the hotel. He watched as she eyed her sleeping material on the other side of the campfire. Sakura closed her eyes tiredly and made a move to leave his arms but he held on, his right arm constricting around her waist, gently.

"You can sleep right here." He told her, but a look she gave him stopped him dead in his tracks. "Er, I mean, if you want too."

She left his arms and maneuvered over to her bag muttering the word 'pervert' and a few more choice words. She unzipped the bag and pulled out a blanket and began making her makeshift bed. Finished, Sakura plopped over facing away from him.

'Smooth move, kit.'

"Oh, shut up, Fox." Naruto thought angrily.

He closed his eyes and thought of his embarrassing moment only seconds ago. He knew it was because she was worried, maybe even self-consciously pulling herself away from him incase they don't find a solution. Pulling his eyebrows together in deep thought, he thought of a back up plan, a plan B per say. He had been thinking of it for some time now. Never in his twenty-three years of living had he thought of such a cowardly and stupid back up idea. The only reason he even considered it was because of its ability to succeed one hundred percent. If they didn't figure out how they could be together alive, he would force himself out of her life. Hell, assassination was all about acting and lies. He could do it. Get her to hate him. It wouldn't be easy but he could be cold.

Naruto rolled over onto his side. He seriously hoped it wouldn't come to that. He put aside his slight anger for even considering that idea and let thoughts of his and Sakura's deaths fill his mind.

_Naruto stood dressed as he always did, black sleeves, black pants, his jounin vest, and his father's red and black cloak over his Leaf uniform. It was strange though. He saw himself but yet not from his own eyes. It was almost a like from a bird's point of view. He was watching himself. He watched as he, Naruto, stood before him with his eyes closed in full concentration. Naruto stood on top of one of the tallest buildings in Konoha, his body facing the front village gates. His cloak fluttered in the wind wildly and he stayed still as if anticipating something. He still did not move even when an explosion went off in front of the village gates. The explosion rocked the very foundation of the building in which he stood. Only then did the Leaf shinobi open his eyes revealing a dull green pair instead of bright blue. Another explosion went off as the fiery pieces flew past Naruto's head. Still, he looked on calmly at the scene. By now villagers were screaming and rushing out of their homes as on-duty shinobi appeared in the distance heading to the spot of the explosion. They reacted fast and so had the demon container. Naruto leaned over and jumped from the rooftop forming a mixture of hands signs that never in his life had he done before. _

_As Naruto landed he took on a more rough appearance. It was the same man but yet he was covered in wounds: scratches along his face, blood pouring down the back of his right leg, and his left arm hanging limply as if dislocated. He wondered if it was genjutsu but after a while he realized it was real. Naruto had performed a jutsu that made him look as he had been fighting for a long time. A huge explosion went off as a person in a hooded cloak jumped away from it to land facing Naruto. The cloaked man's face was concealed because of the fabric that hung low over his head. Below his nose was wrapped a mask, similar to his old sensei's. The unnamed man stood as the wind from the blast blew past him. Naruto drew a kunai and chose to play defense against this hooded man. He observed how Naruto gripped the back of his bleeding leg before bending low to get engaged to the fight. The two jumped, sparring against each other but not really trying to land a blow. The attacks appeared at first glance to be deadly but as he closely watched them, he saw they were intently missing vital areas. Each punch or weapon thrown looked like a close call but he couldn't shake the feeling that it was intended. A crowd was already being drawn as civilians watched the scene. The two continued sparring, both breathing hard. Leaf chunin and jounin made it to the scene as the cloaked man bent down to form hand signs. _

_"You will not interfere." The cloak man commanded as he summoned hundreds of kunai with paper bombs attached. _

_With a wave of his hand the paper bombs aimed themselves at the approaching Leaf Nin and civilians. His fellow Leaf shinobi found themselves preoccupied, unable to come to Naruto's aid for all the kunai were turning to be aimed directly at civilians. _

_"Handle him for us, Naruto!" A voice shouted in his direction, before fading out. _

_The two leaped towards each other again as Naruto asked the cloaked man, "Now..?"_

_"No." The man ordered as they paired off performing jutsu that just canceled out each other's. _

_A kunai embedded itself in Naruto's shoulder, sinking deep within the flesh. He watched as he fell to a knee clutching his shoulder. It was the only attack that wasn't staged. _

_"Naruto!" A Leaf jounin shouted and tried to move to help his wounded comrade. _

_However, the masked man was way ahead of him. A clone of the attacker appeared out from behind a building and flipped the approaching jounin onto his back. The clone pulled a senbon out from under his sleeve and stabbed it into the man's neck. Naruto could tell it was just to knock the man out but why not kill him?_

_The clone dispersed as the wounded Naruto rose to his feet, blood dripping down his hand where he clutched the kunai between his fingers. Naruto saw himself stare at the hooded figure before taking a stumbling step closer to him. _

_The cloaked man glanced up into the distance and smiled seeing someone he recognized. "Goodbye Konoha." He yelled out loud as his hands became a blur. "Ram, tiger, horse.." He muttered staring intently at Naruto. _

_Still from a bird's eye point of view Naruto's conscious filled with fear. No. That couldn't be. He is planning to wipe out Konoha. _

_"Forbidden Justu: Fury Massive Destruction Technique!" The cloak man shouted as a huge light seemed to surround him. _

_"NO!" Naruto shouted as he watched himself limp into a leap towards the man. _

_"Naruto!" A jounin called looking on in horror. _

_"NO!" A women's voice yelled, as Naruto saw the Hokage had arrive. _

_Naruto saw himself collide with the man as a brilliant light engulfed the both of them forcing onlookers to look away to avoid the flash. An explosion came from both men but not as destructive as the jutsu. Naruto knew some how he stopped it as he watched on. He was sure of it. The destruction jutsu had failed. Still a tenth of the explosion hit Konoha. The explosion alone shattered windows nearby into shards. The force of the wind formed a small but definite crater. Leaf shinobi were blown off of their feet as the shock wave set in. A huge amount of chakra shot upwards from the middle of the explosion. The fox's chakra. Naruto heard a pained wail of agony from the explosion and the cry turned more into a roar. The voice that cried out was him, he realized. The voice subsided as the demon chakra abruptly cut off as the explosion reached it's peak. Naruto watched as a blonde haired body was thrown from the explosion and slammed into the ground. He watched in horror as he slid to a stop, limply. He eyes were closed and blood stuck to the sides of his mouth. His cloak was gone, most likely burned to ashes by the explosion. Extensive burns covered his arms and legs and his uniform was shredded in some areas. He had fallen on his side, his face contorted in agony. It was then Naruto knew, he would never rise again. The cloaked man was gone but ashes of what was left stood in a messy pile inside the crater. A flash of green, and soon jounin, chunin, and genin were advancing on the fallen shinobi. However, the first to reach him was none other than Tsunade herself. She knelt beside him rolling him over onto his back, and placed two fingers along his neck. Her face first showed of disbelief, but then finally agony. A silver headed jounin landed by her side to place a hand on the Hokage's shoulder. The Rookie Nine made it in there next, their faces worried. But soon after, a glance of the Hokage and the lack of medical Nin healing their fallen friend, told them everything they needed to know. _

_"Naruto.." A voice wept out in the upmost pain. _

_"Find out who did this.." An order rang out but fell on deaf ears. _

_A mass of shinobi surrounded the group, having to see for themselves for they did not believe. The scene before him was fading away. Naruto wanted it to end, he couldn't watch any longer. _

A sharp light poked through his vision, stinging his eyelids. Naruto squinted trying to block the light. He tucked his head closer to his shoulder and felt the ice-cold sting of freshly fallen snow. It was too early. Damn sunlight. Every damn time too. He removed his cheek from the ice, snapping his eyes open. He was in the Frost country. Sakura had confessed to him and vise versa. He remembered the night before and all it held.

He was about to get up when something stopped him and left him puzzled. Ice falls early in the morning here. But why was he so warm? He should be covered in ice. Something was not right in this scenario.

Naruto turned his head, his eyes fully opening against the morning light. It was clear to see where the warmth had come from.

"So, you decided to come back?" He asked with a hint of smile on his face.

"Shut up, Uzumaki. It's cold as ice. Ha, oh wait." Sakura joked while pulling away from him.

"Hey! I wasn't complaining." Naruto said sounding hurt.

"Neither was I." She smirked checkmating him with three words.

She stood up shaking the excess ice droplets off her clothing. She moved sluggish still sore from the wounds she sustained and the overall chakra depletion. Naruto didn't even make a move for he did not want to feel the sore tingle of his muscles.

Finishing her stretch, she rounded on him, her eyes meaning business. "I'm not sure you realize yet, but we are running on borrowed time." She turned to face him, directly. "Have you had any thoughts on our deaths?"

Naruto drew in a sharp breath. "Well, yes, I did. I assumed you found a way for you to die, but failed on trying to figure out how to kill me."

Her eyes narrowed at him as he stood up smiling at her. "But that's okay." Naruto informed her, ignoring the protest of his limbs. "I figured out how to kill myself, but failed to figure out how to fake your death." He smiled then looked thoughtful. "I wonder why that is..?"

"Because we are familiar with our villages and the people within to be able to judge what they will and will not believe." Sakura told him dead on, a small smile on her lips.

Naruto laughed. "I was hoping an answer more towards we couldn't imagine each other's deaths because it would be too painful to even think of losing the other and such, but yes, your answer works too." Naruto shoved his hands in his pockets and leaned against a frost-covered tree. "Let's get started, shall we?" He started as the cold sensation of melting ice found it's way on his back.

Sakura sat down by the burnt out fire and crossed her legs facing him. "Yours or mine first?"

"Ladies first." The Leaf jounin grinned.

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><p><strong>Sakura<strong>

"Very well." She began. "It took me some time to figure out all the necessary items I would need to pull this off."

"And exactly what do you need?" Naruto asked.

"Some herbs such as lemon balm, valerian root, and the Oleander plant." Sakura listed out, counting on her fingers making sure she had everything.

Naruto's eyebrow rose. "Oleander plant? That shit is deadly and filled with poisons and toxics. Why the hell do you need that?"

_Oh boy. Here come the questions._

"Just let me explain, Naruto." She sighed. "Yes, it is filled with lethal toxins that attack the cardiovascular system and nervous system. It works fast and shuts down the body, ultimately killing you." She smiled. "However, combined with the lemon palm and valerian root, it's not. You see, valerian root by itself is kinda like sleep medication. It makes you fall asleep. Lemon palm is an herb that slows down the heart rate.." She trailed off. "You see where I'm going with this..?"

Naruto smiled slightly, confused as ever. "Yes."

She rolled her eyes. "Liar." She continued on anyway. "With the proper dosages the mixture will ultimately start shutting down my body, but it stops before I actually die. If I do the correct dosage my breathing will slow so much it actually stops. My heart rate decreases so much that it is undetectable by medical personnel. However, I will still be very much alive."

_I hope._

"So, you appear dead? I've heard of this type of thing but only in stories. How are you able to know this?" Naruto asked amazed by his companion.

She shrugged her shoulders. "Why does your Kage want me dead?" She reasoned back.

"Right. Rivaling her in medical ninjutsu and such." He smiled but then frowned. "What will happen to you once you ingest it?"

"I will go in what's like a coma, but for a short period of time. I estimate three hours after the initial ingestion." She calculated.

Naruto scratched the back of his head thinking. "Will you be aware of your surroundings?"

"Yes. However, unable to communicate or move. For example, I'll be able to hear you but not see you, touch you, etcetera." She responded.

Silence hung for a few moments.

"Is this, uh, mixture, any danger to you?" Naruto asked.

She knew he wasn't going to be very happy with her plan. "Not if applied the right way. It would feel as if I've been sleeping. But the dosage has to be correct, down to the tinniest micro piece. If not it will probably kill me." She informed him.

"So, you've done this before?" He asked, a weight leaving his shoulders.

Sakura glanced awkwardly to her side. "Uh, no. It's all theory. I'll be the first to ever attempt it."

Upon hearing those words Naruto sighed, hissing the air out between his teeth as he closed his eyes. "You got to be kidding me."

"I'll be fine, Naruto." She offered. "Don't think I can handle myself?" She questioned, her voice annoyed.

With his eyes still shut tightly, he rubbed his temples. "No, I'm confident you know what you're doing, but it's me I'm worried about. You're going to give me a panic attack."

He opened his eyes to her low laugh and stared down at her. "I'm serious. I'm going to be a nervous wreck." He shook his head in slight disdain. "I guess it can't be helped. If you're sure about this, I won't stop you." He paused contemplating, before he asked. "Where will I be when this is taking place?"

"Oh, you won't leave my side. I need someone to remove my body before I'm placed six feet under. You will impersonate one of the Mist shinobi." She stopped. "But first this is how it's going to go down. I will head back to the village covered in wounds from my mission to assassinate you."

"Covered in wounds..?" He thought out loud.

"Yes. I need to damage myself to make it look believable. I would say you could help but I doubt you would want to." Sakura pointed out.

"Got that right." He muttered, obviously not pleased with this part of the plan.

She carried on, pretending not to hear. "Since this remedy works fast, I'll drink it right before we make contact with the guards. The mixture of herbs will black me out before I'm able to make it that far into the village." She smiled sadistically. "From there starts the panic. The guards at the village gates will rush me to the hospital and lo and behold find that I have died from my wounds. They will announce my death; all the while you will be impersonating one of the guards that found me. My parents will most likely be called in and next the Mizukage." She paused for a brief moment, clearly upset about the first part of her words. "They should began burial right away because of the fallen shinobi rules in the Mist." She trailed off again before jumping back to the plan. "If I'm awake I'll leave with you and if not, you'll carry me out of there." Sakura took in a deep breath. "There you go. One down."

Naruto didn't speak, but instead looked steadily at the ground.

"Something wrong?" She asked, standing to her feet.

"Do you really want to do that? Leave your family like that. I mean, I have no one, that's why its so easy for me but you.." He trailed off, raising his eyes to look at her.

She considered his words for a moment before speaking. "I love my family very much. They made these past years...bearable." Her eyes gazed over a bit just remembering. "But you, however, in a matter of days, have given a meaning to my life. I have a purpose now and if what it takes to be with you is death and losing my family and friends, so be it. Besides, my parents will be better off knowing exactly where I am rather than wondering if I'll ever make it home again."

Naruto stared at her for a long moment before smiling down at her. He found himself off that tree and in her arms in the very next second. To say she was surprised would be an understatement.

"Thank you." He told her quietly. "Never in my life has someone put so much at stake just for me." He laughed, his voice a rough chuckle. "You're the best thing that has ever happened to me."

Yea, the statement was corny. But it wasn't staged or planned. She knew he meant every word sincerely.

He pulled back from the embrace, his voice dropping a tone bringing the conversation back to being serious. "If something were to go wrong while you were unconscious..." He trailed off.

"There are hundreds of 'what ifs' in this method, Naruto. The problem is we can't control the outcome. We'll have to deal with the cards we're dealt." She touched the side of his cheek, below his whiskers. "Just promise me, if something goes extremely wrong, you'll run and never look back." Her eyes bore into his.

He stared back, not wavering. "Nope. I'm not running from anybody or anywhere without you by my side."

"Yes you are." Her eyes narrowed to slits.

"Nope." Naruto closed his eyes, his mind clearly made up.

She began to feel her anger fueling. "This is not open for discussion." She hissed, glaring daggers at him.

He opened one eye at her. "You're right. It's not." He frowned as he fully stared at her. "I'm not leaving your side for anything."

"Whatever!" She threw her arms up in defeat. "Let's move on. You're turn."

"Okay, well, I don't exactly have the best planning skills like you."

"Are you telling me you haven't thought of anything yet?"

"No. I have, sort of. My subconscious came up with it."

"What?"

"I had a dream last night."

"Oh lord."

"Hey! That hurts. I actually think it's a genius plan."

"Yes, but who's the genius here?"

"You're right… Just here me out."

Sakura gently smiled. "Of course."

"Okay, it started off where I was standing on one of the buildings in Konoha, prepared for an attack; an attack we staged. Except that I wasn't me. You were me and I was the attacker. Either you or I set off explosions in the village scaring the civilians and alerting shinobi. Then you – when I said 'you', know that I'm talking about my body – took off into the village while performing a jutsu. Maybe you'll recognize what it is when I describe it but I've never done it before in my life. The jutsu caused me to immediately become wounded. been in a previous fight. Enter me: the attacker. We begin fighting and trying to land what looked like super deathly blows yet we always found a way to avoid the other person. Enter fellow jounin. They begin rushing to help me because you're wounded and I'm not but I send thousands of kunai flying towards civilians that preoccupy the shinobi. We continue fighting until Tsunade arrives and then I make the hand signals for a jutsu that is going to wipe out the entire village. You, noticing the hand signs, rush towards me as the jutsu is carried out. However, I found a way to stop it only after it did about a tenth of the damage possible. And then a few seconds later my body was thrown from the mess onto the ground. It was burned and beaten and battered. Tsunade reached down to check my pulse and there obviously was none because she didn't even try to revive me. Which is something I hope she doesn't actually do when we carry this out." Naruto stopped when he finished his recount and smirked, "Did you catch all that?"

Raising one of her eyebrows, Sakura replied, "That's offending. I'm not you."

Naruto looked a little stunned and then placed his hand over his chest, appearing hurt. "Sakura-chan, that hurts."

Sakura waved her hand and rolled her eyes. "Yea, yea. Now about that dead body. Was it mine or yours?"

Naruto's face scrunched as he thought. "That's the thing… I don't think it was either of ours." He looked up as if a light went off in his head. "Do you know a jutsu that creates a dead body?"

_Well now that requires some thought…_ "Not one single jutsu, no. I can make a dummy-"

"That's what I meant!"

Sakura glared. "No, Naruto. I don't know if you happen to not remember my comment about you being a jinchuriki. Making a simple dummy will not suffice. Your Hokage being as elite as she is in the medical field will not confuse a stupid dummy for you. Now, if you would let me finish."

Naruto closed his mouth and waited for her response.

"Thank you. Yes, I can make a dummy. However, I will have to modify it, which will take some time. I'm sure by the time we need it I can come up with something that will make the dummy, for all practical purposes, human. It'll just really take some serious thought…"

Sakura began to ponder the thought. _I'll have to find a way to give it real flesh, the appearance of blood in the veins, blemishes…. _She sighed. "I'm going to need awhile," she said as she began sitting down against the tree.

Naruto sat down right across from her and watched her. And she wasn't sure how she felt about that. "How about you start coming up with that destruction jutsu and ways to stop it while I do this, eh? And then I can get started on my potion. This is a lot more preplanning than I expected.." She trailed off in thought.

"What did you expect?" Naruto shrugged. "Its hard to kill me off. Right Sakura?" He said smirking at her, hinting to their fight yesterday.

Sakura glared. "I had actually already forgotten about that, thank you." She paused. "However, I did make you pass out." She smirked.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "You know as well as I sweetcheeks that if I would've let Kurama have a go at you, you would be as good as dead. But I didn't. I fought fair. And for that, you can be happy you are currently sitting where you are."

_Shit. _Sakura's glare resumed. "Whatever. Why don't you just go off somewhere and practice your damn destruction jutsu."

Naruto turned on his heel chuckling.

Sakura leaned back against the tree and sighed. _I'm so screwed. Yes, I can make a dummy. But I can't make a dead body. Not even close… I'm going to need a human body. A dead human body.._

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><p><strong>Thank you for reading! We hope you liked this chapter. No, it wasn't filled with action, you will have to wait for that. If you have any questions (LEGITIMATE QUESTIONS) then please ask and we will try to answer them in the next chapter. <strong>

**Please review and tell us what you think!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey guys! Wow, it's been awhile! I really hope you haven't given up on this story yet. Things have been busy busy busy. Here's chapter 10. If you need to, reread previous chapters so that you know exactly what is going on. We hope you like it.**

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><p><strong>Naruto<strong>

A blonde haired Leaf jounin stood under a near frost bitten oak in a small clearing created by causes too odd to be from nature. Though the oak was evergreen, a light ice formed a protective like shell around the leaves preserving them. It was a place where everything seemed frozen in time. Quite literally. The snow had stopped falling days ago and bits of grass poked through the frozen earth. A chill blew across his form as the shinobi wrapped his cloak closer around his body before it could catch in the wind. It had been a day since the formation of the Leaf and Mist jounins' plans. One plan set in stone, ready to carry out, the other still filled with holes and uncertain outcomes.

Naruto rubbed his hands together absentmindedly thinking of the slight joy that they would be leaving Frost country soon. The weather was beginning to get to him. The nervousness he felt creeping upon him did little to warm his blood. Yes, he had good reason to be anxious because tonight they would approach the Village Hidden in the Mist and begin the first phase of their plan. It would all come down to what they do today. If the Mizukage did not fall for the act then surely they would have no chance of fooling the Hokage. Then everything they had worked for would be crushed in a matter of seconds. War would break out. He was sure of it. If caught, they would return to their respected villages with a mission failure. It wouldn't take long for his Kage to figure out the Mist was trying to get rid of him by sending a Mist jounin with the intent to deceive and assassinate a Leaf shinobi that was supposed to be on a co-operation mission. He really did not understand what the Mizukage was thinking. A direct assault to one of Leaf's jounins would be bad enough but the Leaf's jinchuriki? The Mizukage is almost begging for a conflict with Konohagakure.

He almost smiled at the thought that the action he chose to take would stop the coming war. It had a secondary benefit besides being able to stay with Sakura. No matter what, it would have to play out like this. He wouldn't become Hokage but it didn't matter. He acted like the previous Kages of the Leaf, using everything in his power to prevent an unnecessary conflict that would destroy families, friends, and homes. A image drifted across his mind as he wondered what would have occurred if he and Sakura had successfully killed each other. The outcome was the same: war. It was already decided by powers way above him. He could not return to Konoha alive and neither could Sakura return to the Mist. His death would cover up the Mist's assassination attempt. While her death will cover up any loose holes. Once dead, he knew they would be safe. Kirigakure would never admit to trying to kill him. Even if the Mizukage found out that he died in Konoha (as decided in their plan) and not by Sakura's own hands, it wouldn't matter. All the truth and answers would die with Sakura and him. War could not wage between the two villages for there was no evidence of assassination ever occurring.

A branch snapping in the serene forest broke his train of thought as he knelt down pulling out a kunai at the ready. His posture slackened and eventually straightened when he noticed familiar pink hair being blown in the wind. Her figure became clearer as she jumped from the tree limb she was on to the forest floor. Landing gracefully, she made her way towards the Leaf jounin.

"Jumpy today, are we?" The Mist jounin commented before coming to a stop in front of him.

Naruto's mouth moved into a slight frown. "Just on edge, that's all." He commented lightly. "So did you get all the supplies needed for your induced coma?" He asked.

She nodded patting her medical bag that was resting on her hip. "Took me a little while but I found them. We just have to mix all the ingredients when the time comes."

And that time was fast approaching, Naruto thought dogmatically.

"Tonight then." He said.

"Yes, tonight." She answered back in a low voice that very neared his same tone.

She must have been thinking of all that she would lose tonight. Her parents. Her brother. Her village. Everything she lived for until the day he stepped into her life and changed it. He would soon follow. She would not be alone in this sacrifice. He would be doing the same. He just had less to lose. This was one decision he made that he knew he would never regret.

"I'll be there for you, Sakura, every step of the way." He told his gaze never leaving her eyes.

Jade eyes met crystal blue. "I know you will." She took a step closer to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Now tell me what you really wanted to say."

His eyes widened momentarily before his gaze left hers and instead focused on his feet. So.. She had seen through him. She figured out that he had yet to get something off his chest.

There was a lengthy pause before Naruto began what he was going to tell her.

His eyes returned to meet hers. "I don't think you should come to Konoha with me." He said slowly as if testing out the words.

"What?" She asked alarmed, hurt barely breaking though the wall of her eyes; her hand slipping from his shoulder. "Do you not trust me?"

The blonde jounin caught her hand in his before it could fall limply at her side. "It's not that, I just think you should not be the one disguised as me." He replied quickly referring back to their plan for his untimely death.

She was quiet for a moment. "Why do you say that?"

He breathed out a huge breath of air. "Listen, I want to use an actual explosion to make things appear real. My Hokage is going to be extremely hard to fool and this needs to be border line an actual fight with damaging jutsus." He leaned against the bark of the great oak, reluctantly releasing her hand. "So just imagine both of us being under that explosion as it goes off. I can't do a teleportation jutsu, for I do not have the Sharingan and there is no way for both of us to get out of the way without being noticed by other Leaf shinobi. In the end we are both caught in the explosion and die." He rubbed his temples. "Therefore it has come to my attention that you could not possibly be with me in my dream when this scenario played out."

"Why did you think it was me in the first place then?" She questioned.

"Well, because the person in my dream disguised as me had green eyes. I kinda assumed.." He trailed off glancing at her jade eyes. "Anyways, it can't be you."

An awkward silence seemed to loom over the clearing before he continued.

"Two people will go to the village and only one can come out. The body in my dream.. " He paused thinking before picking back up again. "The body in my dream was the other of the two people. There was no third party. The person disguised as me is the one who dies as he is thrown from the explosion. Now you see why he can't be you."

Her brows pulled together in deep concentration. "How do you escape then?"

"I thought of a way to remove me from the battlefield once the actual explosion goes off." He began.

"Are you using that one jutsu?" Sakura questioned with a raise of her eyebrow.

He smirked slightly. "Yes, the jutsu I was practicing a day ago. I decided against using an actual destruction jutsu, however. It will cause too much damage and who knows of the collateral damage." He sighed, his mouth beginning to dry from talking. "Instead I will make the Leaf believe I am going to do that destruction jutsu so when I, the masked enemy who is attacking Konoha, performs those hand signs; the disguised Naruto can jump close to me to stop the jutsu from taking place. I will then use paper bombs and other explosives to make it appear the jutsu was in the first stages of happening. The 'small explosion' will be the result of 'Naruto' taking the hit for the village. Thus dying and taking the enemy with him."

"But that still doesn't explain how you get out." Sakura pointed out.

Naruto smiled wide, and bit into his thumb drawing blood before giving her a thumbs up, blood running down his finger. "Summoning Jutsu."

"Try it." He yelled to her standing a good mile away.

Naruto faintly saw the nod of her head from this distance as her hands became busy with hand signs. Concentration was the only expression on her face as she bit into her thumb, drawing blood and slamming her palm on the forest floor.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu! (Summoning Technique)" She shouted.

From his current position, Naruto observed as a ring of symbols in ink appeared in a circle around her hand. He knew something was wrong for it was too little of a circle and he still stood a good distance away from her.

"It didn't work!" She called out to him confirming his suspicions.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head in frustration. This had been the third attempt she had done to summon him.

"Just let me think!" He called back.

It is possible to summon humans. He'd seen it once before. Humans were still a species in the animal kingdom and therefore could be used as a summon. Sakura and he just signed a contract moments ago with both their blood binding it. Why wasn't it working now, though? Could it be because of the Kyuubi? Yes, of course. It had to be. She is not only having to summon himself but also the Kyuubi since he was the fox's container. Naruto remembered how hard it was for him to summon Gamabunta as the boss of the toad species. He had to use the Kyuubi's chakra to assist. For her to summon himself and the demon, it was going to take a insane amount of chakra and chakra control.

"Sakura! You're going to have to use more chakra!" He shouted.

"I was already using half!" He heard her answering voice.

Shit. So this one jutsu will probably drain her.

"You're summoning a jinchuriki! It's going to take a lot more than a regular summon!" He offered.

"Alright! I'll try again!" She yelled, her hands becoming a blur. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" Her voice rang out, her palm slamming onto the dirt once more.

This time, a crater seemed to form from the force of her hand hitting the ground. The earth cracked and split in rugged lines away from her fingers. Black ink surrounded her hand in continuous rings that expanded outward. He felt the waves of a grand power hit him. Chakra leaked from her in huge amounts as she shouted his name as if confirming her summon. He blinked as white smoke clouded his vision and re-opened his blue eyes to find himself kneeling in front of a panting Sakura. The smoke cleared revealing a wide grin plastered across her face as she stared at him, her hand still on the ground. He felt a smile of his own dance across his lips when she stood up marveling her handy work. He rose to his feet slowly taking a step towards her.

"Amazing." He muttered, smiling at her, a look of wonder gracing his features. "Just amazing, Sakura."

She barely had time to reply before his arms circled around her waist pulling her into a deep kiss. Just as he turned his head to deepen said kiss, he felt her body go limp in his arms and her chakra signature slip into a dormant state. His eyes snapped open and he pulled her away to stare at her unconscious form.

"Sakura..?" He asked hesitantly, panic filling him. "Sakura!" He shouted shaking her.

'What the hell happened?! One moment she is fine, the next she is out like a light.'

'Relax.' A voice within his subconscious yawned. 'Summoning you is still like summoning me. Chakra exhaustion.' The demon pouted out as if old news.

His hands tightened on her unconscious form, bringing her closer to him in a protective manner.

'Well, I thought, maybe, just maybe, kissing me caused her to faint.' Naruto thought pleasantly.

The Kyuubi scoffed in the back of his mind before turning his back to the cage that held him.

'Hey! I was being serious!" Naruto told the Fox tempting a sarcastic response from him. However his mind remained silent.

Naruto lowered himself onto the grass holding Sakura to him as he stared out into the tree line.

Sakura wasn't very far away when she summoned him so she didn't use as much chakra as it is actually going to take. He wanted her no where near Konohagakure. If Leaf caught wind of her appearance, they would know something is up.

Naruto huffed bringing his arms around to protect her from the frost, while he racked his brain for answers. At this rate if she moves anymore than two miles of his position, she won't be able to summon him. Sakura still can't be too close to the Leaf Village. That would easily cause suspicion, his mind reminded him. She has a great amount of chakra reserves but this one jutsu is eating it up like crazy. Could it be possible to have her use that draining seal on him again? When chakra is drained from you, it doesn't just disappear into nature. It has to go somewhere and that somewhere is the user of the jutsu. Sakura was using that one on him the last time they fought as an advantage. Why can't he use it now for the same reason? He would have to speak with her when she awoke.

"Hmph." The Leaf shinobi sighed repositioning the Mist jounin in his lap.

It could work. But one question was still plaguing his mind. Who would be the person disguised as him that would be condemned to death for the sake of this to work?

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><p><strong>Sakura<strong>

Sakura's mind slowly began clearing. Her head hurt like never before. Did she pass out drunk from a party? She couldn't even remember. The last thing she remembered doing was… summoning a jinchuriki. She bolted up right and looked around her. There was a warmth on her hips that was foreign to her. Whipping around, she saw Naruto looking at her with concern.

"I did it?" She asked quietly.

He nodded. "Yes, Sakura. You successfully summoned me."

"What happened? Why does my head feel like someone hit it with a hammer?" She instinctively reached up and grabbed her throbbing head.

"You passed out. It took what was left of your chakra to summon me."

"Well shit…"

"My thoughts exactly." His face remained straight and serious.

"What is it?" She asked.

He sighed. "If it took that much chakra to summon me from a short distance, how much do you think it'll take to summon me away from the village?"

It was a rhetorical question. They both knew the answer. She would need every last bit of chakra to complete a summon as such. What if it killed her? Then all would be for not.

She shook her head. _No. That's not how this is going to end. We are both making it out of this shitty situation alive._

"I can do it." She said with resolve.

He gently rubbed her back. He didn't say anything. She assumed it was because he was pondering all other solutions to avoid what they both knew was a possibility.

She looked around. If was definitely past noon. She could tell by the sun's position.

Slowly, she got up and looked around for her bag. "Time to die." After she picked it up, she took out her ingredients and laid them out in front of her.

_Well, here goes nothing._

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><p>"It's done!" She yelled excitiedly. Naruto had wondered off, the fumes had begun to get to his head, he said. He appeared right behind her and tapped her on the shoulder. She just about jumped out of her skin.<p>

"Naruto! You asshole! Do NOT scare me like that!"

He rested his head on her shoulder. She could feel his smirk. "Just thought I would make things interesting."

"I've had enough interesting to last me the rest of my forsaken life."

He moved away from her stretching out his arms. "Boy, do I agree with that." He paused. "Okay, so do you think it worked?"

"I think it's perfect." Sakura smiled gently.

He breathed a sigh of relief. "Let's hope this works."

"Do you not have faith in me?"

"I have all the faith in the world in you. I do not have faith in fate, however. It's screwed us over before. What's going to stop it from doing so again?"

He looked straight ahead. She could see the emotions swirling in his eyes. "So, which way to the Mist?"

Sakura closed her eyes, tilted her head upwards and sniffed the air. She turned her head to the right and pointed.

She turned to see Naruto giving her an incredulous look. "What?"

"That was really strange. How on Earth did you do that?"

Sakura shrugged. "It's a Mist thing."

"But you were born in the Leaf."

"And raised in the Mist. I don't have much memory of the Leaf. Just you."

His cheeks tinged red. "Alright sweet cheeks. Lead the way."

She took off faster than lightening. He _knew_ she hated that nickname.

_Oh well. Let's just see if he can keep up._

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><p>Naruto couldn't keep up with her the whole way. It was either because she was faster or he just felt like letting her stay ahead. Either way, right before they reached the Land of Water she began to tire. As soon as they landed on the island they took up a spot near a tree.<p>

"How long till the Mist village?" Naruto asked.

"Walking distance." The air around them had become tense. It was time to put their plans into action. Neither of which had a guaranteed success.

He gulped. "Okay. Are you sure about this?" He looked at her with pleading eyes.

"Naruto, if anyone can get away with this, it's us." She smiled. "Now, it's time to beat myself up."

Naruto threw his hands up in the air and began walking away. "I'm out. Just call for me when you're done."

Sakura took a deep breath before pulling out a kunai. "Alright… let's get this over with."

The pain was brutal, but nothing she couldn't handle. She made sure to cover her entire body and to make her wounds look fatal. And truth is, they almost were.

_I've stooped to a whole new level. _

With one final look over herself, she grinned. "Naruto!" she coughed.

_Jeez, that was awful I did a number on myself._

As Naruto approached, he looked as if he could vomit. "Sakura…" He hurried towards her out of instinct. "Shit… What the hell did you do to yourself?"

"Does it look like I can die any second?"

"Of course it does, you idiot!"

"Good.. Don't I usually call you that?"

He scoffed. "Yea, well, I've never done anything like this before."

She retaliated. "I told you what I had to do! We agreed to this!"

Naruto turned away. "I know.."

"I used a pain reliever. I can barely feel anything." Sakura offered.

"You look like hell."

_Ouch._ That comment actually hurt Sakura. She knew it was true but there was a coldness in his words. Naruto continued walking away from her.

"Where are you going?" She inquired.

"To the damn Mist village."

"It's the other way." When he stopped and turned around she made sure to offer a big smirk.

They made their way to the Mist Village and stopped in a nearby tree.

"So… this is it." Sakura whispered.

_I'm about to leave my family, my brother, my entire life behind. And all for one person... Is it even worth it?_

Sakura looked over at Naruto and began to replay everything that has happened up until this point.

She nodded to herself. _It's definitely worth it. Besides, it's time to retire._

"Okay Naruto, do you see the guard closest to us? His name is Tsuchi. He is who you will impersonate."

"So what do we do with him while I'm being Tsuchi?"

"We'll lour him away and hit him with one of these." Sakura pulled out a sedative dart.

"Woah there. You've had that all this time?"

Sakura shrugged. "I'm always prepared. See ya." She hopped down from the tree and walked a few steps backwards. Accidentally, she snapped a twig while doing so, alerting the guards at the gate.

_Well I guess that's one way of doing it. _Luckily, Tsuchi is the one that volunteered to check out the noise. It is a rare occurrence that someone visits the Mist. Habitants don't usually make a mistake such as snapping a twig.

As Tsuchi approached, Sakura's heart sped up and she swore he might be able to hear it. She expertly masked her chakra and waited until the moment he crossed her path. The second he became hidden and within range, Sakura shot the dart and hit his neck. He instantly fell over.

_Sorry Tsuchi. Guess this potion was a little on the strong side. _She thought as she drug his body out of sight.

Now, it would only take a short amount of time before Akasun became suspicious and went to check on his companion. Sakura jumped up to meet Naruto before almost falling off of her branch out of fright.

"You could've warned me you already changed." She hissed. The sight of Naruto as Tsuchi was enough to give her a heart attack. Naruto merely shrugged.

Sakura recovered and quickly whipped out her potion. "Bottoms up." She downed the drink and let it hit her stomach before jumping back down off the branch. She took one deep breath before making her way towards the gates. As she approached, Akasun raised his eyebrows. "Sakura! Long time no see…" He quickly noticed her state of being. "Are you okay?"

"I killed him Akasun. I killed h-" Sakura barely finished before collapsing on the ground.

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><p><strong>Was it worth it? The next chapter is when shit gets real. We hope you guys are prepared.<strong>

**Remember! This is a partner story between myself and NewyearsTragedy. Check her out! You won't regret it.**

**Don't forget to review and tell us what you think.**

**However, no hate please. It's completely unnecessary. If you don't like this story, go find another.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note: Hey readers, its NewYear's Tragedy, we hope you enjoy this next chapter. Its just me due to our story plot but you'll hear from my partner in the next chapter. Our updates will hopefully be getting faster. Thanks for reading.**

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><p><strong>Naruto<strong>

One... Two... Three...

A yell of anguish echoed in the clearing and embedded itself into his memory forever.

Three seconds. That's all it took until all hell broke loose. Her knees gave out from underneath her and her limp, bloodied form collapsed into the guard's waiting arms. He struggled to hold her weight, his eyes widening in sheer panic. The guard known as Akasun wiped a hand across her face smearing crimson down her face. She wasn't responding to his touch. She never would. His head shot up whipping around wildly, searching.

"Tsuchi! It's Sakura!" He cried towards Naruto's henge. "Get the Mizukage!"

The blood from her self inflicted wounds were pooling around her body as he rose to his feet bringing her limp body with him. Akasun's gray flak jacket was darkening with the amount and if Naruto didn't know beforehand that she cut areas that just bled a lot, he would have really believed she would die.

"What happened?" Naruto cried, his voice betraying an emotion that was not at all faked.

Sakura was in Akasun's arms now, bridal style, and her eyelids slightly parted and not blinking. Naruto should have expected the full effect of Sakura's poisonous mixture, but seeing it first hand; the results were devastating. Blood trickled from the inside of her nose and her skin was a deadly pale. Blood ran down her arm and fell out of sight in between her fingers. Fingers, two of which were broken. Her body was covered in blossoming bruises that formed sickening blues and reds. To seal the tragic picture was a small curvature of her lips as if smiling in her last seconds of breath. With each movement her holder made, she did not stir. Fingers pressed against her carotid artery searching but finding nothing. It was all an act. Fake. Yet, it didn't stop the overwhelming feeling of despair that was threatening to take him over.

His skilled assassin part of him kicked in to take over. "Take Sakura to the hospital!" Naruto commanded the other guard. "I'll get the Mizukage." He added to himself quietly.

Naruto took a step forward as if testing out his footing and began to head towards the village gates. Her heard the shuffling of clothing and then footsteps. The guard was next to him in the next second with Sakura, his eyes holding a killer fire within. He stopped next to the deceptive Leaf jounin, his hands shaking around her form with pent up rage.

"Sound the alarm." The guard ordered his voice hard. "Sakura Haruno's mission was a Priority Red S-rank." He took off inside the village leaving Naruto to wonder what the hell he meant.

Without further stalling, Naruto was through the tall gate. He took off in a sprint looking for a tower that might belong to the Mist Kage. Villagers stared after him in worry but he did not stop. The architecture of this village was completely different than that of the Leaf making it harder to find who he was looking for. Concrete cylinders rose from the ground with trees planted atop of them. Every building appeared at first glance the same, but amp on closer inspection he noted there were different size cylinders. Taller ones, shorter ones, and even thinner ones. Every now and then he was fly past a normal looking home but that was not often. That wasn't even the worst part. The whole damn area had a thin layer of mist over it like a blanket. You couldn't see anyone or anything a distance away. There was no time to inquire where exactly the Mizukage was. Just time to act. His heart rate increased as he took a sharp left leaving what he assumed was the residual area. His boots clicked loudly as he ran down a wet alley way in between two buildings. Troubling thoughts began to swirl in his head.

What had that gate guard meant? Priority Red? What the hell does that mean?

This is bad, the blonde thought. Each second he and Sakura stayed in this village, the more likely they will never get out. He had to get to the damn hospital! Not run errands searching for the Godaime Mizukage!

An uncomfortable sensation shot through his body like something fell on him. He heard a grunt of pain when Naruto barely registered he had collided head first with another person when he jumped out from the alley. Because of his ninja like grace, the Leaf nin remained on his feet but the poor person he ran into went straight to the ground. The wet, muddy ground.

"Damn. I'm sorry!" Naruto apologized, his hand reaching out to help the person.

The fallen person was a young teenager wearing a grey flak jacket and a mesh undershirt. Just by this appearance alone, Naruto could tell he was obviously no civilian and judging by his reaction to being hit, he was no jounin either. More along the level of a chuunin or advanced genin. He was a little on the slender side standing inches below Naruto's own height which could explain why he went straight for the ground when Naruto hit him. He had unnaturally bright blonde hair held back by a forehead protector displaying his affiliation and vivid green irises. He face held boyish youth but was beginning to frame into a strong, rigid jaw line. He was not looking at the Naruto but rather focused on rubbing his back side in discomfort.

"Watch where you're going!" The boy snapped rubbing a hand through the strands of his blonde hair.

"Tsuchi?" He asked finally looking up at his 'attacker,' his hand pausing on his head. "What are you doing in the village? Shouldn't you be at the gates?" He asked confusion overshadowing his anger.

Naruto gave a sly smile. "Ah, yes. I should but-" He paused, his expression becoming grave. "There is an emergency- do you know where the Mizukage is right now?"

The boy stepped up to his feet, his face concerned. "She should be in her building.." He trailed, pointing to a cylinder building wider than the rest. "Why what's going on?"

Naruto was already running towards the building and calling out behind him. "Sorry! No time to explain!"

Naruto was at the doors of the wide building and pulling them back with ease. He got into the building with no difficultly (just confused stares) but as he made his way to the top floor he wondered how he would explain barging in on the Mizukage. Don't people need an appointment to request an audience with her? Perhaps he could run around and scream at people that questioned him that a Priority Red S-Rank mission went wrong? Naruto scoffed at that stupid idea.

It turned out that was exactly what he did. As soon as the words were uttered, the shinobi on guard of the top floor ushered him towards the Mizukage's office immediately. In the next moment he found himself kneeling before the Mizukage who was giving him an odd look from behind her desk. A jounin with bleach white hair was seated across from her, with an annoyed look about him like Naruto interrupted an important conversation.

Damn. Too late to go back, Naruto thought hastily.

"Mizukage-sama." Naruto dipped his head respectfully before playing out the part of a concerned fellow shinobi. "Sakura Haruno has returned from her mission. She is critically injured, ma'am!" He looked up at the Mist Kage. "Akasun has taken her to the hospital and asked me to get you. Her condition is severe." He added contorting his face in one of that of impending despair.

The Kage rose to her feet, pushing her chair back with a loud scrapping noise. She removed the blue Kage hat from atop her head and set it down on the desk. Her pace was evenly balanced as she walked until she stood in front of her desk.

"How long ago was this?" She asked her words sounding more like an order.

"Approximately five minutes, Mizukage-sama." He answered hoping damn well she would be too concerned to see through his facade.

She leaned back into the wooden desk, thinking. Her expression was calm and controlled when she asked another question.

"Did she say anything?"

"Yes." Naruto nodded his head. "She said that he was dead and she killed him." He faked panic. "I didn't know what she meant but she collapsed right after." He drew in a sharp breath. "Mizukage-sama, there is something else.." He trailed.

"What is it?"

"Akasun sent me to scout the trees when he heard a noise that turned out to be Sakura. I found this a few clicks away from the direction she came in." Naruto proceeded to pull his own metal Leaf headband from his pocket.

He was in the lion's den now, Naruto perceived. This was it. Convince the Mizukage and you convince the village. If she even slightly detected he was an impostor, it would all be over. He would be killed on the spot and Sakura would probably wake up hearing a 'crazy' story of how a Leaf nin snuck in the village and tried to assassinate Mizukage by lying about a Mist nin's death.

The Mizukage strode over to him and took the battered forehead protector from his outstretched palm. Dried blood still clung to the metal from Sakura and his fight. Her eyes inspected the scratched metal symbol of the Leaf. After a little while she tossed the mark of his loyalty to the jounin who caught it easily. Her eyes narrowed in thought before she spoke to the Mist shinobi whose conversation had been interrupted with her.

"It seems the Leaf's jinchuriki has been assassinated. Put the village on high alert." She ordered to the seated Mist nin. "A couple of things could have gone wrong for her to return in this state: The Leaf could have seen through her disguise and are preparing retaliation. The Kyuubi container could have even released vast amounts of dangerous chakra in the fight, thus tainting the vicinity." She sighed as if concerned with the destructive proprieties of the demon chakra. "If what Tsuchi says is true and Sakura dies of her wounds; it could very well mean the mission was a success and was completed without a hitch." She paused and glanced at the village from a small window, her features taking on a look of sheer determination. "However, we must take all necessary precautions incase it was compromised."

The shinobi who was seated at the end of her desk grunted, his own metal headband clinking against his neck.  
>"Activate the barrier then?"<p>

Barrier? Something that protected the village from outside intrusion? Well, that complicated matters a bit.

The Mizukage nodded and the older shinobi placed the stolen headband in his pocket then rose to head out the door, without looking at Naruto. The door slammed behind him and she turned her gaze back on Naruto.

"We're going to the hospital." She stated. "Grab a hold of my arm, I'll teleport us there."

'Tsuchi' rose to his feet and stepped over to stand next to the Mizukage. A woman who very nearly reminded him of Tsunade but on a whole different level. For one, the Mist Kage was a brunette and two she was giving him this weird look like a tiger eyes its prey. Trying not to show his hesitation, he lightly grasped her forearm and looked up expectantly at her.

"You could grab a little harder." She said in a sultry way causing Naruto to pale as if he missed some inside joke.

She chuckled solemnly trying to lighten the mood. The reaction on his part must have been common for Tsuchi, Naruto realized with relief because in the next second the office was blurring and the scene changed completely.

They stood in a crowded hospital atmosphere. People in white were running around shouting orders at one another, while injured shinobi were rolled in on stretchers. The entire wing they were in smelled of sterile items and the faint, lingering scent of iron.

"A team just came back wounded." The Mizukage explained before walking towards a man, the crowd parting for her like a river to a tree.

Naruto meekly followed her, his steps more slowed and deliberate. He stopped a few feet behind her as she conversed with the man who he assumed was the head medic. There were a lot of hand motions as they talked. She listened intently to every word he spoke. Her eyes widened at some parts then softened at others with a look one might describe at acceptance. Then it came the time he uttered those words you never want to hear in your lifetime.

"She didn't make it." He spoke slowly looking down as if ashamed.

Naruto froze soon hearing those words. And ever so easy, he sunk into the role of Tsuchi who failed to get Sakura help in time.

"Where is she..?" Naruto begged the medic, his face downcast.

The man turned on the devastated gate guard, his eyes wide with understanding. "Room 201."

'Tsuchi' didn't wait. He was plowing through the crowd of people, his steps becoming unstable. He barely heard the Mizukage calling out to him, but he did not stop. He bumped into a doctor and nearly tripped over a heart monitor, but he never halted his war path. He weakly registered room two hundred and one was before him. His hand reached out and slowly grasped the door handle so hard that his knuckles bleached. The door was opened with a small shove. The sight that greeted him was one he didn't predict.

Sakura lay in the hospital bed, her skin as white as the sheets at her abdomen. A man and women stood next to her, their eyes red with shed tears. The man didn't seem to hear the door open; he was not there mentally at all. The women removed her hand from Sakura's face after brushing some fallen strands from her face. She turned towards her husband shifting her face away from the body of someone she must have cared for greatly. The grey eyes of his henge met the green orbs of the man and Naruto knew. He fell to his knees in the doorway, his eyes never leaving the man.

"I'm sorry." The words came before he even realized he said them.

These people were Sakura's family. The very ones she was leaving just for him. A family that obviously cared very much for her. He never had that. But she did. And she was leaving them behind in a web of lies.

His teeth clenched together in frustration at their situation. Fingers constricted tightly into fists at his sides as he stared at the sight before him.

"Damn it." He hissed under his breath.

Why the hell did Tsunade assign him this mission? Maybe if he never even met Sakura, she wouldn't have to sacrifice so much just to be with him. No. There was use of that foolish thought. She was destined to meet him because of the Mizukage's order. She had no choice but to eliminate him. Then why didn't she?! If he was dead, she wouldn't have to do this. If she had just killed him in the first place..

"This is all my fault." Naruto ground out from Tsuchi's lips. "It wasn't enough. I couldn't... I should have-" Naruto cut his words off trying to maintain his position as Tsuchi but at the same time apologize for his actions as Naruto.

His eyes were directed to the floor, his body shaking from restraining multiple emotions bottled up in him. His right fist tensed before he slammed it on the adjacent dry wall. The plaster cracked underneath of the weight but all he could think of was how unfair this was. They couldn't both live together, even in separate villages. The mission failure would only result in the mission being resigned and another worse outcome received. The Kages of both respectful villages would soon figure out they are both trying to kill off important key shinobi to each village. He couldn't be the cause of another ninja war and for that reason he and Sakura had to do this. And that's what was pissing him off. He had no other choice. There was only one path to take and it was inexorable. Fate had won again.

A hand clapped down softly on his shoulder drawing himself away from his conflicting thoughts. Sakura's father was standing before him, his eyes crinkled in a sad smile.

"It's okay, son. The medics said she was gone before she even reached the gates. You did everything you could." Her day her gave a light squeeze to his shoulder. "Sakura wouldn't want you to blame yourself."

Naruto couldn't help but stare up at the man in wonder. Here he was, a man who had failed to save his daughter and he was trying to cheer him up? The action reminded him a bit of someone he knew. So it was true then. The apple didn't fall far from the tree.

The Mizukage knocked lightly on the door before coming into the now over occupied room.

"Mr. and Mrs. Haruno..." The leader of the Mist started.

Sakura's mom left Sakura's side to sadly greet the Mizukage. Her husband's hand dropped from Naruto shoulder and gave a small bow before boldly speaking to the Kage.

"Lady Mei, did our daughter.." He paused trying to hold back the emotion. "Did our daughter do her duty and succeed in her mission?"

His wife was now next to him, her hands grabbing onto his arm for support.

"Sakura Haruno completed her mission successfully at the cost of her life." The Mizukage answered with honor.

A tear slid down the man's face as he took a deep breath. "That's what she would of wanted."

'Tsuchi' slowly rose to his feet and approached Sakura's 'dead' figure. The blood from earlier had been washed off leaving just the memory of it have ever been there. Her skin was not so bruised leaving him to suspect they medical staff have covered them up with make-up for her parents benefit. He placed the back of his hand against her cheek and froze when his skin made contact. She was cold. No warmth radiated from her person. Just coldness and paper like skin. Almost like she had never been alive and it was some sick delusional dream.

Voices faded back into his subconscious and a particular detail stuck out in his mind. He directed more of his attention to eavesdropping.

"No, no. I'll go with Sakura." Her father was saying a strong emotion coming onto him. "I want to make sure she gets there."

Her mother's voice interjected in. "What about Shiro, honey? We need to get back home before he finds out from someone else."

"I'll go." Naruto voiced his opinion hardening his face when he realized this could be his chance.

If there was one thing he even remotely liked about the Village Hidden in the Mist, it was the village's shinobi death laws. In the case of a shinobi being killed in action, the village must bury the body immediately. This law prevented bounty hunters from requiring bodies and grave robbers from benefiting from the deceased. In order to do this, the dead bodies were buried in an undisclosed location. Not even family of the deceased knew where. This addition to the law was added after a brother of a KIA-ed shinobi was murdered just so his brother could steal his kekkei genkai. So, the bodies were buried in an unmarked location and the name of the deceased was placed on a memorial wall where family/friends could pay their respects. This way there was not a huge cemetery of thousands dead and the dead shinobi still retained their honor for falling in the name of Kirigakure. This being said, Sakura would soon be buried. And that's what the Mizukage and her parents were discussing. Who would escort Sakura to her final resting place?

"I'll make sure she gets to funeral home." Naruto paused looking at the pale body on the bed. "It's the least I could do."

Her father appeared like he was about to protest before his wife stopped him. "Hiroshi, let's talk to Shiro. He needs the support; this will be very hard on him. He is probably waiting at home alone after going to training with his team." Her voice cracked with emotion. "Our daughter isn't here anymore."

The man who now looked ten years older gave Sakura a lingering gaze. He reluctantly agreed and followed her out the door.

The Mizukage then turned to him.

"Don't take it so hard on yourself, Tsuchi." She stepped out the door then looked back at Sakura one more time. "The coroners are on their way. After you are done here head back to the gate. Akasun is there currently but he has requested a momentary leave."

"I understand, Mizukage-sama." He replied in a detached voice as she disappeared through the door and two men came in.

A grey haired man spoke. "You're the escort?"

"Yes." Naruto replied evenly.

"Very well." He fully walked into the room and the second man pushed in a metal stretcher.

The second man, a much younger man, pulled the stretcher up next to the hospital bed. They proceeded to drape a white cloth over Sakura's face signaling the universal sign for deceased. As they did this, Naruto switched into assassin mind frame and was judging their strength in order to complete their plan. The two had very little chakra, almost fleeting. This meant one of two things. One- they were almost dying. Or two- they were civilians.

"We have a carriage out back." The grey headed man spoke as he transferred Sakura to the metal stretcher. "You can ride with my assistant and I until we get close to the morgue. After that, the laws say we cannot let you stay any longer."

"That's alright." Naruto said calmly his inner mind beginning to smirk.

Both men tucked the white sheet in around her body as the man continued to talk. "Such a shame. I'm sorry you had to go through this."

"As am I." Naruto sighed.

The man nodded his head and returned to an upright position. "Alright, let's go."

Then Sakura was wheeled to her final destination as Naruto trudged silently behind a knowing look on his face.

* * *

><p>The layer mist had increased since he last been outside. It was almost suffocating. Something about it too was not natural. He could only assume its heavy presence had something to do with the barrier that jounin had spoke of earlier. Naruto felt a bump that jarred his body as the wheels of his ride slowed down. The coroner's carriage pulled to a stop next to a small building near the main village's gate. The horses whined, then began to stomp their hooves to the ground eager to keep on. The blonde Leaf jounin regarded the dirt road silently. Just by the direction of the road, Naruto could assume the burial of fallen shinobi was not actually in the village. He heard the grinding of gravel against boots as one of the men headed around to the back opening of the carriage. He picked up the flap of fabric and looked directly inside. It was the younger man, Naruto noted.<p>

"Hey." He called out. "This is your stop."

"I see." The blonde spoke slowly, his voice dropping as he shifted to the edge of the opening.

Throwing a leg over the side, 'Tsuchi' jumped out the back of the carriage next to the younger man. The rocks crunched under his feet when he landed. Naruto glanced up at the moon lighted hazy surrounding the carriage. You couldn't see five feet in front of you and that was just perfect.

The younger man smiled slightly then looked off towards his fallen 'comrade.' "Well, it was-!"

He was abruptly cut off when Naruto had pulled his arm back and punched the man in the face as hard as he could with his right hand. The blow easily knocked him out cold. Naruto quickly caught his falling body and laid him down into the back of the carriage. Glancing to his right and left to insure no one saw, the blonde preceded to lift the poor man's legs into the carriage. He then stepped past the coroner's assistant to get Sakura. Knowing the longer he stayed the more likely he would be noticed, Naruto threw the pink haired women over his shoulder and stepped out the back of the carriage. He walked slowly to the front of the carriage towards the grey haired man who was driving the horses. Naruto began a series of hand signals as he walked to the front. By the time he reached the man, the jutsu was complete. Without being a ninja, the civilian man would never know he had been doped. The coroner had gone lax in his seat and he stared emptily out in the distance.

"You are to head to the morgue. Your assistant fell on his face and knocked himself out cold." He told the man was under a very vivid genjutsu. "You have already buried Sakura Haruno while you waited for your partner to wake up. You dropped Tsuchi off here and he headed to the village's gates. When I release the genjutsu no one will be standing here and you will head to the morgue because Sakura is buried and your partner is unconscious. Is everything I said correct?"

"Yes, that is correct." He replied in a detached voice.

Naruto smiled before doing the 'ram' hand sign. The man shook his head in confusion and gazed around, his eyes glancing over Naruto as if he wasn't there.

"Stupid Tamaki." He muttered before cracking the whips.

The horses pulled away being the only living things that knew what really happened. Naruto and Sakura were gone before the carriage even made it out of sight. The blonde nin and his companion were already scaling up the village's main wall to the guard tower. Deciding to test a theory, the Leaf jounin began another more familiar jutsu. It wasn't long before there were two Narutos and the clone version of him took off to go pick up a loose end. The real Naruto landed heavily on the shingled roof of the sentry portion of the tower.

"Whose there?" A voice called out.

Naruto carefully rested Sakura on the roof and leaned over the roof to stare at Akasun upside down.

"It's just me. I'll take over per the Mizukage's orders." Naruto replied normally.

The chuunin looked relieved. "Ah, don't scare me next time. Jeez."

"I'm sorry." Naruto replied sincerity.

Akasun nodded his head. "Well, it's pretty easy night. The barrier is up so any physical form leaving and coming to and from the village will be detected by our teams."

Naruto's eyes narrowed. How convenient. So his suspicions were correct. He didn't know exactly how it worked but the heavy mist in the village was a part of it. The barrier was a signal to the Mist teams dispatched to defend the village. Anyone entering the village would be detected and detained. The same worked for the reverse. This made getting out of the village harder.

"Goodnight." Akasun said, motioning that he was leaving.

As soon as he disappeared from sight, Naruto dropped in with Sakura on his back. Naruto gently placed Sakura's out cold form onto the floor of the lookout tower. His eyes squeezed together tightly in determination. Taking a deep breath, the blonde reopened his eyes to reveal the eyes of a hard, stone cold killer. He had to treat this like any other assassination mission or it would all be over. Sakura and he had made a grave mistake and if he hadn't caught it in time they would both be as good as dead. He had played Tsuchi's part well but that was underlying problem. Naruto had played the part, not Tsuchi. The guard would awake and not remember anything that went on even when the Mizukage herself remembered talking to Tsuchi who was really Naruto. They would immediately expect foul play with the disappearance of his memories or his probable insistence that he never did what they saw him do. Most likely all fingers would point to the Leaf because of Sakura's 'successful' mission. This situation was more complicated that he could have ever predicted. And it was for that reason alone Tsuchi of the Mist could not survive the night. For everything to work, the loose end must be cut.

His henge has completely worn off by the time his shadow clone appeared and dropped the real body of Tsuchi to the floor. The clone disappeared in smoke as Naruto pulled out a scroll knowing he had to be fast. The blonde shinobi rolled the scroll out in front of him as he touch the paper with his own blood to release the seal. With a small pop, varies containers and weapons materialized into life on the scroll. Grabbing the black pair of gloves that rested on the scroll he smirked at thought of remembering to bring this scroll. This particular scroll was not ordinary. It was his assassination scroll that contained everything under the sun that could cover up a murder or pin it on someone else. Naruto pulled the gloves over his right hand, and then left before grabbing a brown bottle that rested in the far corner of the paper. Unscrewing the cap with his right hand, Naruto reached for a cotton swab with his left. The cap fell off the bottle as the blonde dumped a good amount of the liquid into the swab. Naruto hastily put the cap back on the bottle and crawled over to the unconscious Mist guard. Without slowing down, he removed Tsuchi's vest and raised his shirt. The drenched cotton swab was brushed across his chest and stomach spreading the liquid in long strokes. His motions were fast and rushed but the liquid eventually dampened before disappearing completely into the skin. Naruto tossed the swab back on the scroll and returned the guard's clothes back to its original position. He returned back to the scroll to grab a couple of empty and half filled liquor bottles before returning to the guard. Grabbing the man's hands in his gloved ones, Naruto preceded to smash Tsuchi's pads of his fingers on the glass of the bottle. Smudging the finger print identity would help the cover up in the long run. Naruto printed two empty bottles before tossing them about in the guard tower. The last slightly filled bottle that was printed, he set to the side for later.

He rose to his feet and returned to the supply scroll his eyes wandering over the items. A check list was already running through his mind. He would make it appear as the guard had drunken himself into oblivion over the death of Sakura. The liquid in brown container was actually concentrated alcohol that absorbs into skin. Therefore, in a blood test, he will have intoxicated cells. Tsuchi was still alive so unknown to him, the more his heart beat, the more he spread the alcohol through his bloodstream. The beer bottles were to make up the scene. And of course gloves: to leave no fingerprints. But that was not all. The story is implausible that a shinobi would die of alcohol poisoning so the final stage would to push Tsuchi off the wall. Perfect. Now, he just needed to break the spinal column of the Mist nin to prove instantaneous death.

Naruto stepped behind the unconscious man. He crouched down, his muscles tensing in anticipation. He cupped his hand under the neck of the guard before stopping.

'Eyes.' A voice butted in his subconscious.

'Eyes?' Naruto asked annoyed. 'What the hell does that mean?'

'His eyes are closed. It looks more believable if they were open.' The Fox pointed out rudely.

'Is that really necessary?' Naruto sighed. 'I'll have to wake him up and that's just cruel.'

A huff from the demon. 'Do what you want. Just don't come crying to me when they figure out his death was staged.'

Naruto glared at the adjacent wall when he realized the truth in the Fox's words. That damn sadistic demon.

"Fuck." He cursed before shaking Tsuchi roughly.

The man flinched but showed no signs of waking up. Annoyed at having to do this in the first place, Naruto shoved the Mist nin over hard before stopping him from slamming face first into the floor. The man twitched again as his fingers moved to feel the empty space in front of him. A dawning realization of another presence near him caused the guard to bolt to his feet.

"What the-?!" Was all Tsuchi could get out before a loud snap was heard and he doubled over to the floor his neck broken.

Naruto stood there for a few seconds behind him staring at the deceased shinobi of the Village Hidden in the Mist. Another senseless murder in cold blood. Another name to add to his list of those who had died by his hand. Sakura was going to be pissed.  
>Deciding not to fret on it for long, Naruto returned all the supplies besides his gloves to the scroll. With a small pop, he sealed the items to the paper once again and returned the scroll to his pouch.<p>

Okay, now all he had to do was push the guard over the edge with that half filled beer bottle and there, another murder turned accident. The body of the guard would pass through the barrier of the village alerting Mist nin to this location. He would sneak out with Sakura when the body dropped so the breach in the barrier will appear as to just have been Tsuchi.

Naruto reached down to grab the body of the Mist nin by the vest when he felt a chakra signature closing in on his location. The level of chakra was no more than a chuunin but it was closing in fast. It couldn't be another guard for he was the only one scheduled for the main gate. It also couldn't be a passing team because the person's intended destination was this room.

"Damn." The blonde hissed flattening his back to the side of the wall beside the opening of the guard tower.

The chakra signature got closer and he heard the clicking of feet on the concrete of the wall. A shadow passed through the opening before an outline of a boy stepped into the room. Naruto was on him immediately, a kunai gripped securely in his hand.

"_You_!" The boy hissed as Naruto forced him to the ground.

That same thought had passed through Naruto's head because this was the same chuunin he had knocked to the ground earlier. Naruto said nothing and focused on forcing the kunai down to impale the newcomer. The boy resisted grabbing Naruto's wrists trying to overpower him but was failing. Naruto's strength far ascended his own.

"Why did you take Sakura's body?" The kid demanded between breaths.

Naruto leaned further onto the weapon causing the tip to touch right above the material of the Mist nin's vest.

His enemy gasped. "Answer me Leaf nin! I saw you take her from the carriage and head up here."

The Leaf nin's first thought was impossible because he had checked before leaving the carriage. Then it hit him. The more heavy hazy mist in the village was the perfect defense. The Mist's special technique that caused them to appear invisible in the mist. An intruder would never know he was being watched, much less how to fight off an enemy he couldn't see.

Naruto stared into the green eyes of his enemy that reflected so much hate. The Mist nin struggled harder, the weapon threatening to end him leaving his clothing.

"You're a bounty hunter, aren't you?! I'll sound the alarm and you're dead!" He declared his eyes leaving the blues of Naruto's to look at something on the wall next to him.

A detail the chuunin said did more harm than good to him in the end. By stating he would 'sound the alarm' it meant he had not already. Which of course meant he was the only one who saw him remove Sakura. That left this Mist nin the only witness. Naruto's eyes hardened when he knew he had no choice. The boy must of noticed the change too because his eyes widened in fear. The Leaf assassin forced the sharp weapon down, its tip aimed at the heart of his victim. The kunai shook with the force of one pushing and the other resisting. The metal passed through the grey vest as it sunk. Naruto knew when he touched skin because the boy began to struggle violently like a caught animal.

"You Leaf piece of shit! I won't die by you or let you take my sister!" He screamed.

Naruto stilled.

"Sister..?" He asked his voice confused.

"Oh, now you talk." The boy bit back sarcastically.

The blonde shinobi remove his weapon from its deadly position over the boy's heart and put it to the chuunin's throat.

"Tell me. What is your name?" Naruto ordered.

"Go to hell!" The defensive Mist nin shot back.

A sensation pricked at the corners of his senses. Three foreign chakras were approaching his position. By their speed they would be here less than five minutes. A team of Mist ninja? His control of the situation was getting out of hand. He needed to end it and end it now.

"I don't have time for this." Naruto snarled.

He picked the chuunin from off the ground by his neck and slammed him into the wall.

"Tell me now or I will kill you." Naruto hissed his face very close to the chuunin's.

The young chuunin cringed. "Shiro Haruno." He spit back at him.

Naruto's eyes widened as he glanced over at the unconscious form of Sakura. Trying to wrack his brain for a description of her brother that she might had given him. It would be know use because the name her parents said earlier matched his.

"Sakura Haruno is your sister?" Naruto asked mournfully, dreading the answer.

"Yes." The chuunin clarified angrily.

Well, this could not possible get any worse. Naruto felt the need to slam his head against a wall repeatedly. Why in God's name did this kind of shit always happen to him? He thought shit hit the fan a while back but this? He could clearly hear the recited words of an assassin's rules run through his head: _The Three Codes of Assassination__  
><em>_- Fraternizing with the enemy at any time is prohibited.__  
><em>_- Destroy any evidence linking your allegiance to the mission.__  
><em>_- Anything that can speak or write that sees the mission, must be eliminated._

Or in others words, don't fall in love with your target, don't get caught, and no witnesses.

And now he was about to break another code.

Flipping the kunai to the blunt side, Naruto proceeded to hit a point on Shiro's head affectedly knocking him out cold. The blonde carefully placed the brother of Sakura on the floor next to her. He was picking the dead Tsuchi up in the next second along with the beer bottle. Naruto staggered out of the opening of the tower with Tsuchi in tow. With a quick glance over the edge, he saw no ninja around the bottom of the drop. Naruto released the bottle over the edge and quickly gave Tsuchi a good shove over the edge as well. He didn't stick around to hear the landing for Naruto Uzumaki was picking up Sakura and the tag along.

Those three signatures he felt earlier were now moving at a faster rate and Naruto now knew he had been right. The barrier alerted them of a presence leaving the village. Naruto took a breath and jumped off the wall. It may be easy for him to fight against hundreds of shinobi but nothing prepared him for the crushing weight on his knees when he landed with the combined dead weight of his companions. He grunted in pain and force his body into a staggering run away from the Mist Village. There was no way in hell he would get away like this. Well, not fast at least. He cursed himself over and over for not being able to master his father's flashing dagger technique. That certain ability would come useful about right now.

The blonde made it past the dense tree line trying to put a good distance between the village and himself. The air was unnaturally humid and dense with water vapor. It was almost like it was about to rain but he knew it wouldn't. He hated the Mist. It wasn't the people or the air. It was how the water vapor made his clothes cling to his skin. He suppressed a shudder and focused on making a mental map of the world.

Alright, he is currently on the island of Water Country, more specifically near Kirigakure. He could head back to the Frost but the journey would go over more water than he wanted to and was in the complete opposite direction of their next phase of their plan. That being said, if he headed due west from this position he will eventually hit the ocean. If he kept at it, he would find himself in Wood Country- a territory smack dab in the middle of Fire and Water Country. Wood is a non-shinobi area and is filled with dense trees that could provide could coverage. It was not a main route ANBU and Leaf ninja used when traveling too. On the plus side the water travel distance was half that of the Frost too.

"Well." He said cheerfully out loud imagining Sakura coming at him with a weapon and slamming it into his jugular when she awoke and saw her brother. "Looks like we're going to Wood Country."


End file.
